The Chosen
by nutellafueled
Summary: The dark is rising, but so is the light. A chosen four are invited to attend Hogwarts as Voldemort grows stronger. What will happen? Who will make it? A rewrite. Discontinued. In the process of editing and reuploading existing chapters. Except not really.
1. Disappearance

Hello guys. This is me 4 years later deciding to put the parts of the story that I had previously written back up. I'm still embarrassed about the writing but I guess this is still a story project of a scale that I simply haven't attempted since. So it's special to me in a way. YOSH!

I've taken out some of the more embarrassing things.._._

I'll aim for a chapter a day. And maybe I'll reformat the previous chapters if I can be bothered to. XD

**Note:** This story is situated after Battle City and Ship, before the whole Egypt thing. Several differences: Malik has his Rod, Yami Bakura is less than canon (more like fanon...) and the same goes for Blaise Zabini, if you have read HBP. This story was started in 2004 dammit! I was just incredibly... lazy and unmotivated.

**Disclaimer:** Yes, this will apply for the rest of the story. Yu-Gi-Oh and Harry Potter are not mine, they are Kazuki Takahashi's and JK Rowling's respectively.

And yes, I am using anime-/manga-style titles for each chapter. Sue me if you want! Ha ha ha ha ha!

* * *

Chapter 1 –

"Disappearance! The unexpected beginning"

* * *

The night air was cool and darkness enveloped the surroundings. Sniffing the air, the Thief King held a dagger close to him protectively, holding it carelessly but ready to strike at any moment and set off for the convenience store just across the road.

Yami Bakura, in one of his 'moods', had been rummaging the kitchen, desperate for something to eat, but could not find anything at all. Ryou had been asleep in his soul room but no matter how hard Yami Bakura pushed or how he tweaked the lock he could not get the door open, and no amount of knocking or banging could wake up his hikari. So he had no choice but to pay a late-night visit to the local store to get some instant noodles and the groceries while he was at it.

On the way back, hands full with two huge bulging bags of foodstuffs ranging from ice cream to eggplants, he stuck his hand casually into the mailbox. Hey, you never know when you might get something telling you you won the lottery.

He pulled out several advertisements, bills, the norm, before stopping at a strange letter with a foreign postmark. Before he could fully investigate it, however, he was distracted by several sweeping figures in black cloaks heading towards the city. Or, to be more specific, the Kame no Game Shop.

He turned around and went home. The Pharaoh could deal with those people by himself.

Once safely back at home, he glanced at the letter. It had been addressed to 'Bakura Ryou, Upstairs Northwest Bedroom, 13 Wakaba Lane, Domino, Japan' in green ink. Who in the world used green ink? Opening it, he found that it was written in an extremely loopy cursive hand, in English. Nobody wrote letters to each other in English in Japan. Obviously.

And so it went on. As he skimmed through the letter, Bakura found doubts surfacing in his mind. He'd never heard of a school called Hogwarts before. Sure, he believed in magic, but he was special. And who the hell cared if Ryou scored a place in that strange school anyway? Cauldrons, pet owls, flying brooms – it was downright weird and zip, nada, zilch, none of his business!

He left it lying on the table for Ryou to find the next day anyway.

* * *

It was another day for Kaiba Seto. Just another day. Ho-hum, just ignore the boycott of KaibaLand by its many former employees, won't you?

Anyway, apart from that minor matter things were going well. Seto had managed to strike yet another multibillion-dollar deal with one of the greatest foreign marketing companies in Japan, ensuring that both KaibaCorp products and Duel Monsters would steadily grow in popularity. When his workday ended, his chauffeur drove him home, where he was immediately greeted by his ever-clingy and big-hearted younger brother Mokuba.

A servant walked up to him and gave him something which he accepted without even acknowledging her. Walking with Mokuba to his study, he examined the letter thoughtfully. It was addressed rather disturbingly to 'Mr Kaiba Seto, 3rd Floor Southwest Bedroom, 2 Suzuki Avenue, Domino, Japan'. It was slightly disturbing that the sender knew so much about him, and yet the letter looked so much like an advertisement. He opened it and read it, then promptly crumpled it into a ball and threw it in the bin.

Mokuba caught it as it floated, though, and uncrumpling the letter, he read it. "Hogwarts, eh?" he mused. "Come on, onii-sama."

Seto sighed in relief. At least Mokuba didn't believe in this any more than he did.

"It's a great opportunity, onii-sama! How could you even think of not going? You could learn all sorts of new, useful things! Why in the bleeding face of the earth would you not want to go?"

Seto blinked. Apart from the fact that Mokuba had obviously learned how to swear, he was also saying that Hogwarts was an OPPORTUNITY. He couldn't really form an intelligent-sounding response to that.

Finally, he managed, "Mokuba, don't swear."

* * *

Malik sighed as he woke up. Stretching and yawning, he casually stuck his hand out of the window into the mailbox. Yes, the temporary apartment that Isis had found was small enough for Malik to do that. Malik hoped Isis would hurry up and find that mansion she had promised to soon.

After skillfully somehow getting the letters securely in his hand (after all, he'd had months of practice!), Malik withdrew his hand from the window and settled down on his bed. Finding an unusually thick leather written on – what, parchment? – he opened and read it.

"_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr Ishtar,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_"

Malik didn't know what to say. He believed in magic, or to be more specific Shadow Magic, but to receive a letter, from England especially, inviting him to study in a school for magic was just not right. It had just barely begun to sink in, and for a few minutes he just sat there staring at it.

Then Malik found another note, in the same loopy handwriting as was on the envelope.

"_Dear Mr Ishtar,_

_My name is Albus Dumbledore. You will probably not know me, but I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You are a very special boy, Malik, and your Millenium Rod makes your powers even more illuminating._

_The wizarding world is facing a crisis now. An evil wizard, previously lying dormant, has risen again. Lord Voldemort and his organization, the Death Eaters (who can be identified by black cloaks), are very dangerous wizards who take lives without mercy and they have to be stopped. We urgently need you and your friends' help to defeat Voldemort, which is why you have been invited to join Hogwarts._

_I hope you will genuinely consider our plea for help._

_Signed, Albus Dumbledore_

_PS: If you do not believe this letter, touch my signature above. It should turn into a frog._"

Now Malik wasn't unsure of what to believe anymore. In fact, he was very, very sure. Sure that this entire thing was total baloney and well, crap. He wondered how the strange guy knew about his Millenium Rod, but decided to drop it.

As he carried it to the bin, his finger brushed lightly over the signature. Malik watched, bemused, as the signature twisted and turned as if trying to get out of the paper. Then in a split second it turned into a frog and hopped out of the open window.

Now Malik wasn't sure again.

* * *

It was a nice, sunny day. Jounouchi Katsuya was returning from his summer job in the library. His father was out again, probably somewhere in the shady areas of town. Jounouchi didn't really want to know. As far as he was concerned, he would live his life without worrying too much about what his father did.

When he entered the apartment block he collected his mail and found a suspicious-looking letter...

* * *

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" everybody cheered.

Harry Potter stared in amazement at the presents for him. For HIM. He had never received so many presents in his life. He had never had a birthday party in his life either. Staring at his friends grinning back at him, Harry scratched the back of his head and said, "Gee, guys..."

You see, today had just been another day for Harry. He had been invited to Grimmauld Place two weeks prior, and although the place still held painful memories of Sirius, he had accepted. Today he had just woken up, had breakfast, and walked into the living room right into his party. His friends and even the members of the Order had fully gotten into the spirit and had decorated the entire room, perhaps even the entire house. Little Gryffindor flags and a banner saying 'HAPPY 16TH HARRY!' hung on the fireplace, and Hermione had temporarily brought a cartoon version of Harry, drawn on cardboard to give it durability, to life. It was currently acting out the time when Harry lost the bones in his arm in his second year and was flopping its hand rather pathetically.

As his friends sang the birthday song, Harry could've sworn he had never felt any happier in his entire life. He grinned happily, but was taken aback by a sudden painful throbbing in his temple. Damn. Trying to fight it, but knowing what it meant, he fell to the floor.

* * *

Jounouchi headed towards Yuugi's house after a short bout of video games at Honda's, intending to ask him what he thought about the strange letter he had received. He really didn't know what to make of it – magic, wizards, owls? He had no idea what the whole thing meant but didn't mind trying it out. If it was real.

Swinging into the Kame no Game Shop, he called out a greeting before stopping short.

The Duel Monsters card shop was completely ransacked. Panicking, he called Yuugi's name again, and his grandfather's as well for a safe measure.

The shop was silent.

Knowing he should call for help, Jounouchi ran off to the arcade, where all his friends would be at that time of the day. But apparently Honda was still at home and Anzu was studying; the only people there were Ryou and Malik. Ryou turned towards him but Malik stayed where he was, concentrating on his pinball game.

Jounouchi said, "The Kame no Game Shop's burnt and empty. Yuugi and Jii-san... are gone."

Malik froze in the middle of his pinball game and the silver ball fell into the hole with a clang.

* * *

What? You didn't know that Bakura is that selfish? I find it hard to imagine that he'd dump all his shopping (his noodles!) and the letter and run, without knowing who the hell those people were, to the Kame no Game Shop to save the _Pharaoh_, no less. Haha.

Please review and I would really, really appreciate constructive criticism!

And I gotta say... damn. My English has improved so much.

Hopefully in 8 days you will be looking at 8 revamped chapters + the newest chapter huh?


	2. Shock

**Disclaimer:** Not mine...

* * *

Chapter 2 –

"Shock! A plan is formed"

* * *

"Ha, ha, Jounouchi," Malik said after a pause, "real funny. It wasn't April 1 the last time I checked though." But his voice was uncertain.

"I'm serious, Malik!" Jounouchi said in exasperation. "Would I lie about this? Come see for yourselves!"

Malik glared at Jounouchi and the latter glared back, but then they broke eye contact and turned towards Ryou, only to find no one there.

"Where's Bakura?" Jounouchi asked, rather needlessly.

Malik bit his lip. If Yami Bakura had surfaced and had gone there, that meant he believed Jounouchi. "I think he's there..."

They rushed to the Kame no Game Shop, only to meet Yami Bakura, whose face was carefully neutral, the Millenium Puzzle and a piece of paper in his hand.

"This place can be read like a book," he said. There was an odd tone in his voice but nobody picked up on it, as they were still too shocked to speak. "Let's get cracking, I suppose," he continued after a long silence, putting the note and Puzzle onto the counter. Focusing, Yami Bakura placed two fingers on the Puzzle and delved into it, reuniting with the tiny piece of soul he'd left there.

The soul room was huge and confusing as always, but there was something missing. The stillness was unsettling, and no matter how he probed Yami Bakura could not find any trace of a living being, spirit or otherwise. Withdrawing from the artifact, he said slowly, almost unbelievingly, "The Pharaoh isn't in the puzzle."

Silence greeted the statement. Again. Yami Bakura was getting tired of it.

"Don't just stand there!" he said after yet another long pause, annoyed. "Do something! You're supposed to be _best friends_, aren't you? The power of friendship and all that! Remember?"

Jounouchi stared at him for a moment, then reacted. "Uh... yeah," he said, pulling out his phone. "I'm going to call Anzu and Honda." He gestured at Yami Bakura. "And you have a note..."

"Oh yeah," he replied. "About the note... I'm not too familiar with English characters. You read it, Malik. I doubt Jounouchi's English ability."

Jounouchi glared at Yami Bakura and made a one-handed snatch for the note, but since Yami Bakura had two hands at his disposal it was pretty obvious who won. However, he could not celebrate his triumph in public as Ryou soon forced him back in, having felt the need to finally take control.

"Maybe I should read it," he commented with a hint of amusement lacing his voice as Jounouchi finally got through to Honda and explained everything. But when Ryou scanned the note his face went white. He opened his mouth and started reading:

"'_Kame no Game Shop, 47500 Domino Precinct, Yokohama, Japan. Remember the gourd. The boy has multicolored and spiky hair, also very short. Be careful of the spirit. Very important. DO NOT FAIL._' A gourd..." Ryou mumbled. "Don't they use gourds to contain spirits?"

"Yes, they do," Malik said gloomily. "So someone wants the Pharaoh, huh? Someone from America or England?"

"England!" Jounouchi's head shot up, still on his phone. "I got a letter from a school of wizardry in England!" Then he bit his lip, as if expecting a negative answer.

"I did too," Ryou said softly. "Do you think it's connected?"

"Wait..." Malik said, "you guys did too? I did, but I thought it was just some crazy prank. But if the letter and the note are to be believed... all evidence points to England. Wow," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "_What_ a help."

"At least we know he isn't in the rest of the world, Malik," Ryou said mildly.

Meanwhile, Jounouchi had finished his phone call to Honda and had told him to inform Anzu about it. "But we are going off on another adventure to save Yuugi, aren't we?" he said. "How are we even going to get to England?"

"Well, I've kinda got an idea..." Ryou said, giving them a small smile.

* * *

Harry opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room, scar still smarting painfully from Voldemort's sudden anger. After his vision focused, he realized that the room didn't feel quite right.

Where were Ron and Hermione? Where was his party? Where was this place, anyway? He was still slightly confused, when suddenly a cruel, snake-like voice started to speak, and Harry sighed mentally.

'Voldemort can't even leave this day alone, huh? So much for a happy birthday...'

"I told you, Crabbe, to go to Japan, take the spirit quietly, and quietly come back, _leaving no traces of your presence_. But what do you go off and do? Almost burn the entire house down. And although the spirit is here, safe in my dungeons... where are the other two?" His voice lowered dangerously. "The whole point of this was to not leave any witnesses. I am disappointed, Crabbe, very disappointed indeed..."

Crabbe's reply was a hasty mumbling and a few robe kisses, however, they did not seem to have any effect as Voldemort spat in contempt and kicked at Crabbe angrily.

"Get up. Only the fact that your son is graduating soon saves you; believe me, if your son had been but a child, or had already become part of the circle, you would already have been dead."

Crabbe replied meekly, "Yes, my lord," then turned and left the room.

It was at this point that Harry, who had been utterly engrossed with what was happening, realized just how vulnerable he was in this state. Unfortunately, it was too late, as Voldemort had already turned around and cast his red snake-eyes upon him.

"Someone has been spying, hasn't he?" he asked sardonically, and reached for his wand.

Harry closed his eyes.

"Aveda Kedav-" the robed figure said, and then Harry heard no more.

* * *

He woke up later in his bed, sweating profusely and was immediately attacked by his closest friend, Ron.

"HARRY! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" his red-haired friend asked him, eyes clouding with worry. "We thought we'd lost you there, mate!" Hermione waited for him to finish, before asking quietly, equally concerned, "Are you okay, Harry?"

'Another close shave,_' _Harry thought. _'_This can't go on forever, you know._'_ The aftertaste of a predictably vile-tasting potion burned his throat, but Harry didn't complain; it was probably that potion that had saved his life.

'But what the hell_,'_ he finally decided. 'I'll enjoy it as long as it lasts. My life, I mean.' The implication of the prophecy Dumbledore had explained to him suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Oh yes. The spirit.

"Ron, Herm," he suddenly said in an urgent tone, leaning forward in his bed. "I was at Voldemort's... I was at his hideout, and he was punishing Crabbe. And apparently..." he swallowed, unsure. "Apparently, they've captured a spirit all the way from Japan."

"And you think they might use it against us?" Ron asked, incredulous.

"Maybe, maybe not," Harry said. "Maybe the spirit's on our side, and they captured it because of that."

"But all the way from Japan?" Hermione said skeptically. "The spirit must be really powerful, if they went that far..."

"Figures," Ron said darkly. "Snape goes off to save a Slytherin's soul, while a powerful spirit gets captured in front of our very eyes."

* * *

"No, we are _definitely not doing that_," Jounouchi growled.

"But it makes perfect sense!" Malik gritted out in frustration. "Provided he agrees, of course..." he trailed off, unsure.

"Oh, but he will, he will," Ryou said, smiling. "Just go over and ask him, trust me. Meanwhile, I'll tidy up a bit, so that this place doesn't look so cluttered and draw attention."

"Okay, whatever," Jounouchi said glumly, giving up, as he walked off with Malik.

And soon, Yami Bakura found what he had been looking for, and his eyes gleamed.

Ryou knocked on the door of Kaiba Mansion. He had, indeed, been quick with the cleaning up. A servant opened the door and led them inside to the hall, informing them that Kaiba-san would be down in a minute.

In exactly fifty-two seconds, an irritated Kaiba Seto walked down the stairs, brandishing a thick envelope.

"Jounouchi. You're here too," he said. "But of course, how could I not guess? Everything that annoys me involves _you_. You aren't involved in this prank, by any chance?" He showed the envelope to everyone, and they all recognized the loopy, cursive, green handwriting.

Jounouchi, taken aback, looked puzzled. "Me? That letter? I got it too!" He glared at Seto. "I'll show you later if you won't believe me!"

"I have it as well," Ryou said, and was echoed by Malik with a similar statement. Seto looked at them briefly, deciding on whether to believe them. "We," he finally declared, "had all better go to the lounge."

Settling down in the plump cushioned armchairs, the four looked at each other.

"I don't believe it. The letter, I mean," Seto said bluntly.

"I do," Malik said. "Did you guys get an extra note? Because I did... and it all makes perfect sense. The events link up, and it's easy to see why Yuugi's been kidnapped."

"Wait," Seto said, holding up a hand to prevent Malik from going on further. "You say Yuugi's been kidnapped."

"Yes," Ryou said. "Jounouchi went over to the Kame no Game Shop and found it ransacked, and Yuugi-kun and his grandfather were gone. We found the Puzzle, but the other Yuugi isn't in it. We think he's been sucked into a gourd and brought back to England."

Seto stared at him as his mind went through everything again. "You must be kidding me," he said wearily. "First the boycott, then the stupid letter, and now this. You are serious, aren't you?" Ryou nodded without saying anything. Sighing, Seto got up and motioned for them to do the same.

"Come up to my office," he said, starting to walk, "I am assuming that you want my plane." Relief clearly showing on his features, Ryou followed him and beckoned Jounouchi and Malik to follow.

* * *

Three floors later, they reached Seto's home office, which still commanded an intimidating aura despite not looking like one. Posters of Blue Eyes White Dragon and its various forms were tacked up on the walls, possibly covering every square inch. A blue desk with a computer on it stood near a large window, and some shelves containing things like Tamagotchis, Game Boys, PSPs and of course, Duel Disks were by the wall. On the other side of the room, there was a large sofa and a TV connected to an Xbox, Gamecube and Playstation 3.

Ryou and the others stared, and noticing their obvious awe, Seto sighed mentally. He also felt obliged to explain the game consoles and did so promptly. "Those game consoles are Mokuba's, by the way."

Meanwhile, Malik was prodding a shiny poster. "My God, Kaiba... this is a holo poster," he breathed. "Do you think you can get me Ra?" he asked happily. This time Seto didn't hold back. He gave a rather audible groan, but stopped midway and snapped abruptly, "Get your hands off my cards, Yami Bakura."

"Man, Seto, you're damned sharp," said Yami Bakura appreciatively, chuckling lightly and casually opening Seto's briefcase of ultra-rare cards. "Let's see what's in here... you know, you could've been a master thief if you weren't a snivelly CE—" He was suddenly replaced by Ryou, who looked very apologetic. "I'm really sorry, Kaiba-san. My yami still cannot control his tendencies... and his mouth, it seems." Then a faraway look appeared on his face. Seto guessed correctly that Ryou was telling his yami off rather fiercely, and sighed. Again.

"I think your other's had enough, really," he said. "Although tell him not to call me Seto. Do you want to rescue Yuugi or n— Jounouchi! What the hell are you doing to my computer!"

Jounouchi jumped up guiltily. "Um... nothing much," he mumbled. "Yeah... just clicked a few things. Played Minesweeper, y'know. Eheheh." Seto snorted. "Just clicked a few things, yes. You probably deleted important reports and forms. Maybe you even ordered a million Tamagotchis to be made or something. Nothing much, indeed!"

"Well, Tamagotchis are fun to play with, you know!" Jounouchi snapped back. "I liked them a lot!" A loud beeping started to emit from the computer, but by now Seto and Jounouchi were too focused on their respective tirades to notice.

"Yes, Jounouchi, the key word is 'liked'. Tamagotchis were in, yeah... eight years ago. Tamagotchis are OUT now, Jounouchi, OUT. Everything is all about trends."

"What's that then, Kaiba, hmmm?" Jounouchi asked, pointing at the Tamagotchi poking innocently out of the box on the shelf.

"Er... well," Seto replied, almost embarrassed. "Like I said, they're all Mokuba's!"

"Pah!" Jounouchi said derisively. "Your little office is so weird! I knew you wouldn't be playing with this sort of stuff anyway!"

"What did you say...?" Seto snarled, his hands clenching into fists.

"You know what I damn well _said_!" Jounouchi growled back, eyes narrowing and bringing his fists up.

But before both boys could break out into a brawl, however, they were stopped by a quick, sudden slap to the cheek. They stared at Ryou, shocked, but before they could say anything Ryou plowed on angrily, "Will you please stop fighting? You're fighting here, but who knows what they're doing to Yuugi in England? You may not like each other very much, but at least unite to save your friend!"

It occurred to Seto that Yuugi was not his 'friend', more of an acquaintance or a rival, but faced with Ryou's burning eyes, he wisely decided not to say anything.

"Bakura's right, we have to get a move on," Malik added.

Jounouchi, breathing heavily, stared at Seto, tensed. Seto, straightening up, stared at Jounouchi, tensed. Then both boys suddenly relaxed. "All right," was Seto's curt reply, "Let's get a move on." Finally noticing the beeping, Seto reached over to the computer and opened up a video message window. Immediately, Otogi's face appeared on the screen.

"What's happening over there?" he asked, slightly annoyed. "You took ages to pick up!"

"Otogi, my man!" Jounouchi said, smiling. "Where have you been? You went somewhere overseas to promote DDM, that's all I know."

"He's in London," Seto said sharply. "To promote DDM, that's right."

"Yeah," Otogi said, face relaxing into an easy grin again. "It's a big hit here, you know. I'm actually quite surprised."

"That's good, Otogi," Malik said. "But the truth is..."

"Yuugi's been kidnapped," Jounouchi, ever the blunt one, continued, grin now off his face. "And we think he's in England."

Otogi's face froze. It was rather interesting, really, to see Otogi's face try unsuccessfully to remodel itself back into a recognizable expression for the first few seconds. Finally, he collected himself and, face grim, said, "Well, knowing you all, you're probably not joking, especially when Yuugi-kun's concerned. So what are you going to do, go to England? Will you need any help? And is Kaiba coming," he asked, smirking slightly, "or are you in his office solely for the sake of leeching off his advanced technology?"

"The jet they're going to England in belongs to me," Seto replied. "Of course I'm going."

"And yes, Otogi-kun, we will need a lot of help..." Ryou said grimly, showing Seto and Otogi the note found in the Kame no Game Shop. "This enemy has obviously planned this kidnapping down to the last detail... I know that something terrible is going to happen."

Malik, remembering his note from Dumbledore, felt a feeling of ominous dread settle in his heart...

* * *

If you have read the previous chapter 2, you may now be pleased to note that Jounouchi no longer has raging hormones that make him disagreeable!

Please review!


	3. Rewriting

Yeah... this is chapter 3. Without the song, yeah... Who was the idiot who said that songfics are bad again? All the songfics I've seen merely _spur_ people to get the CDs (example, "Gutterflower" by Lady Yami Bakura, which used Goo Goo Dolls songs). And what would you gain from using the lyrics here anyway? Certainly not money.

Vaness: Ohh, Seto-kun is SO cute, especially with his hips in the TV ending of Ano Hi no Gogo!

...yeah, she's still like that. For those who don't know what she's talking about, search on the net (go to Kokoro no Naka or Janime), or buy the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! ;D

And by the way, I got a beta reader and a duel writer! Yay! Say hi to **Isis the Sphinx**, my beta reader, and my duel writer doesn't want to be known. D: But of course, his duel will come later.

Spoiler alert, but if you don't know the Pharaoh's name by now you must be severely lacking.

By the way, 'aibou' is a term used by Yuugi and Yami to address each other.

Oh yes, and I reuploaded this chapter. I had to change it a bit. That's why you saw the author alert for those who have it for me.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Japanese names to dub names: Malik – Marik, Jounouchi (Jou) – Joey, Seto – Kaiba, Ryou – Bakura, Sugoroku – Grandpa (Solomon? Who knows?), Otogi – Duke Devlin, Isis – Ishizu, Shizuka – Serenity, Honda – Tristan, Anzu – Teá.

Key:

(( )) - yami to hikari

( )- hikari to yami

" " - speech

' ' - thoughts

_Italics_ - letters, newspaper articles, emphasized words etc.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Chapter 3 –

"Yami, Yami, Yami... Oh Dear..."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

((Aibou...))

((Aibou...?))

((Aibou...!))

Yami was quickly jolted from his hopeless efforts to reach his hikari as his body reached solid ground.

Wait... he had a body? Wasn't Yami himself just a spirit with no physical form? And yet his back colliding with the floor had hurt. Badly. Looking around him, Yami saw just solid walls. A suspicion started to form itself, and as he looked up to see the walls narrowing into the ceiling it confirmed itself: he was in a gourd.

But why would someone do that? Why had they separated him from his hikari in the first place? Somebody must have wanted him for something... but of course, he had nothing, except the title of Game King. And even that was supposed to be Yuugi's. Even if he didn't understand any of it, his expression hardened. 'They may have me, for whatever purpose, but they sure won't keep me. I won't be separated from Yuugi and the others.'

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Lord Voldemort strode into the dungeons purposefully. He intended to make the most of his prisoner, and licked his lips with the anticipation of the power the spirit would give him – and God knew he needed the power. His 'faithful' inner circle followed him wherever they went, but Lord Voldemort knew as much as anybody that when given a chance to betray him and move on to more 'glorious' plans, they would take it without hesitating.

And if there was one thing that the Death Eaters were wrong about, it was that Muggles were defenseless. Voldemort knew first hand what Muggles could do...

"_Mum... Mum...!" the 3-year-old Tom Riddle cried as his mother slumped to the ground, bowled over in pain, one arm missing and face pouring with blood. "MOTHER!" he cried again as she was subsequently blown to pieces, ridding her of her pain. Bombs rained down from massive monstrosities above. It was the Second World War. Devastation was everywhere. Tom could have safely assumed that he was the only survivor in the unexpected bomb attack of the tiny village of Courney. His friends Eric and Karl were gone. The whole village was gone. Everything was gone. All gone._

_And after that..._

"_Hey, Shorty," a voice snarled, and Tom's heart sank. Turning round fearfully, he found the orphanage's most feared bully, Evan McTulsh looking at him. "W-w-w-what?" he asked, his voice quavering. "We wanna have some fun with you," McTulsh grinned and showed his sharp teeth. Tom tried to escape, maybe to a sister or something, but he just wasn't fast enough. Evan McTulsh's cronies brought a kicking Tom into his room._

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

But of course, McTulsh eventually paid the price.

_Tom as an 10-year-old thought back on those memories, his trembling right hand holding his letter from Hogwarts. 'So... I'm special?' he though. 'I'm different? I can do magic? I'm... a wizard?' His face hardened. 'I would have thought I wasn't a normal human. I'm not as cruel as that.'_

"_Hey, Shorty!" Evan McTulsh was back. He wasn't accompanied by his 'bodyguards', but both he and Tom knew that if they were both to fight, the larger, bulkier McTulsh would easily win. McTulsh lunged towards Tom suddenly and grabbed him by the cuff, but this time, Tom was not afraid. He was different. He could do magic. He was a wizard!_

_Suddenly wrenching himself free from McTulsh, he felt red-hot hatred well up from his heart. "Never will you hurt me ever again," Tom stated with ringing clarity. Then he suddenly let loose a blast of power he never knew he had. He would never recollect this incident perfectly later on, but he knew he had seen a blinding green light. Tom, still slightly confused, stared at McTulsh's smoking body falling rather unnaturally at a graceful arc towards the floor. Then he grinned._

_And he laughed._

"My lord, we are here." Voldemort was suddenly brought back into reality. Shaking his head dazedly, he quickly set up all his barriers and mental guards again, cursing himself. Why did he choose that time to dwell in his memories...? He continued to walk ahead before finally stopping at a cell. He had to focus; there was an Egyptian spirit to interrogate. Entering the cell, he held up a hand to stop his servants from entering.

"I ask that you leave," he said icily. "We have some... business to discuss."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

((It's OK, aibou, it will be okay,)) Yami reassured his hikari. Or rather, _imagined_ he reassured his hikari. ((I'll think of a way to get out of here. I'll return to you and all our friends. No matter what it takes.))

Suddenly, he sensed a presence appearing in the gourd. "Come to kill me now?" he asked with a hard tone, not turning his head. Then his head turned to face the presence.

"Please face a person when you address him," a hooded figure robed entirely in black said silkily. "It's only polite, after all. I have some very pressing business with you which we must discuss now."

"...yeah," Yami said very intelligently. The figure reminded him of the Ghouls, the Rare Card Hunters back into Battle City. Now, before you go laugh at him, I wonder what you would have said had you been captured in a gourd, defenseless and confused, and a Ghoul-lookalike had just turned your head for you?

"Getting to the point," the hooded figure continued, "you possess extraordinary power. I have come to offer you two options: one, work with me and aid us with your power, and two, refuse and get killed." He suddenly laughed, a chilling sound. "Oh dear," he remarked. "I seem to have forgotten to give you my name. I am Lord Voldemort; remember that. Of course, I know who you are, Atemu."

That stopped Yami's poor, confused heart and put him on guard. If that strange person... 'Lord Voldemort' knew his Egyptian name... things could get very complicated indeed. However, he kept his face impassive, not letting the uncertainty show on his face, and replied smoothly, "I'm sorry, I'm sure you must be mistaken. I am merely Mutou Yuugi, an ordinary Japanese student who works part-time for a card shop. I don't know anything about this 'Atemu' and I certainly don't have any power."

Voldemort laughed. "You won't be saying those amusing things when I'm done with you, _Muggle_." He spat out the word 'Muggle' with hatred and contempt, reminding Yami of how Yami Malik had addressed him as 'Pharaoh' back in their duel. "I'm being very generous already, you know. There aren't many wizards of our kind who would treat a Muggle decently like I am right now."

Yami spat on the ground. "Yeah, you're being really decent right now," he said sarcastically. "Locking me up in a gourd, controlling my body for me and not even saying please and thank you."

"Politeness will get you everywhere, Atemu. Do try to reconsider our offer, why don't you? After all... I want your power, and I will have it no matter what."

Lord Voldemort then turned around and walked away, robes billowing up, making dust swirl off the floor.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The youth looked up from his bed, annoyed, as a house elf nervously entered the room. "Master wishes to see you in the dungeons, young lord..." the elf quavered. He sighed with annoyance and closed his book, then asked, "What does Father want to do with me?"

"I d-don't know, young lord..." the elf replied. "Master said he had a test for you." The youth raised an eyebrow. A test, eh? This would be interesting... He walked down the stairs to the dungeons.

"Father," he said respectfully, bowing. "Son," his father acknowledged, then continued. "Son, you will be a sixth-year soon. After two more years of education, you will be ready to join our lord." His glance flickered over to what was behind him, and the youth's eyes followed suit.

Two Muggle teenage girls. Hugging each other fiercely, they stared fearfully but with a trace of defiance. One was blonde, had glasses (and thus looked clever), and wore her hair in a ponytail, and the other was a brunette who had a multitude of piercings who the youth could almost picture grinning brashly, had the circumstances been otherwise.

"That is why," his father said, "I think you will need some training. Well?" he finished, smiling and the youth barely suppressed a shudder. He had to kill _them_? He had been brought up to believe that Muggles were uncivilized, heathen creatures, not these – dare he think it? – rather appealing little things. He let his gaze dwell on the two girls, who looked at him with pleading eyes, not daring to believe that this boy would be the cause of their deaths. The first girl probably got the best marks in class, he thought, and from the looks of the second one, she probably goes to those parties. He wondered briefly what kind of parties she went to, and failed to conceal a slight reddening of his cheeks.

The youth's father noticed his hesitation, and frowned. "I know it's hard," he finally said after a moment of silence. "You find yourself personifying them. But son, Muggles are what the world doesn't need. The world would be a better place without them. They don't deserve the world!"

"We deserve it as much as you do!" the blonde said indignantly, but was silenced by a quick Crucio. A sharp intake of breath escaped her mouth and she gritted her teeth, but otherwise did not react. The pretty brunette stared at her with concern, but did not dare to comfort her.

Wait. Pretty? What was he thinking? She was a _Muggle_. Vermin. Inferior. No, there was no way a Muggle could be pretty.

'Deni-al!' a tiny voice sang gleefully at the back of his head. 'You have a crush on her! Just lo-ok!" He hesitated again, and his father's eyes narrowed. "Don't play fool on me, son," he said. "It may be hard, but the first time is always hard."

Silence from the youth. His brain was in turmoil. He'd heard so many glorious stories about being in the circle since childhood, and had grown up believing that he would be a loyal member of said circle He had gone through his first five years of Hogwarts despising Muggles and Muggleborns, especially that know-it-all Granger and the busybody Creevey. But killing Muggles... he had never thought about it before. Greedily sucking up the promises of glory that his parents had told him, he had dreamed of being Lord Voldemort's most prized Death Eater. But could he kill Granger? Could he kill Creevey? Could he kill Muggles?

"No," he said.

"What was that?" his father asked silkily, and his son caught the venom behind it. The youth knew hell would come when his reply came out of his mouth, but the thought of killing innocents... Killing people like those two girls... he couldn't do it.

"No," he repeated with more confidence than he was feeling. "I'm not even touching them, Father."

His father smiled grimly. "Well then..." he snarled, expression changing instantly, "let's see your answer... after a few days of _persuasion_."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Yami would never really how it happened afterwards. All he remembered was that it was the day after he had first been brought in the gourd. He had been sitting languidly, thinking about nothing in particular, when the sound of an angry man furiously making his way down the hall jolted him away from his daze. Seconds later, the man entered his cell, and that's when the whole thing started.

"Crucio!" he snarled and Yami felt instant pain. "W-w-what?" he gasped. "Who are you? Wasn't I given some time to think?"

"I'm not aware of anything like that!" the man yelled. "All I know is that this is the dungeon for lesser prisoners, so you must not be very important!" The pain intensified, splitting into Yami like daggers striking his flesh repeatedly. He still refused to show weakness however, and clenched his teeth.

"Are you sure?" Yami asked, gasping. "You wouldn't really want to anger your master, would you?"

"Keep quiet, you Muggle!" the man screamed. "You're a Muggle and I'm a wizard, and I can do with you whatever I want! Now why don't you just shut up and scream?"

"I can only assume a Muggle is someone who can't do those sorts of spells," Yami said, smirking weakly. "In that case, I am not a Muggle. I am far from being one, in fact."

"Whatever," the man replied, smirking, seeming to have recovered from whatever that had been agitating him earlier on. "You can babble all you want, Muggle, but I've already decided. You are going to die now, and when you die you will be in as much pain as possible."

Then Yami suddenly came down the most powerful headache he had ever had. It was as if a force had entered his skull and had wrapped around his brain. It was impossible, even with these peoples' fancy tricks... or at least it seemed to be.

Yami was no longer in any doubt of its possibility when the force squeezed.

But still Yami did not scream.

"You are a tough nut, aren't you," the man said, grinning. "This will make breaking you all the more fun."

Yami's eye merely twitched in pain in response to that, and, irked by the lack of response, the man continued, "I bet you have friends huh, Muggle? I wonder what they're like? Are they as stupid as you?"

"I won't react to that, and you know it," Yami said wearily.

"Will them come save you, hmm?" the man asked. "Would they dare? Or do they not even care? Are they just nuzzling in the laps of their girlfriends, watching as your girlfriend makes out with another man?" He intensified his Crucio.

Yami clenched his mouth shut tightly, his eyes glowing crimson. He wasn't even listening to the man now, too busy trying to force down the scream that was rising, bubbling, no exploding from his throat, brought on by fatigue, the shock of separation from Yuugi and repeated Crucios. But everybody has a breaking point, and, resilient as Yami was, this was his.

He screamed.

But it wasn't an ordinary scream. It wasn't a scream of fear or realization, or even a scream of pain and anguish. He screamed louder than any prisoner had ever screamed before, and no wonder, as this scream had come straight from Hell. Souls of people whose voices had never been given a chance to be heard used Yami's scream as a form of escape. Innocent people who were executed. Jews during World War II. Perhaps even the people of Kur'elna.

The scream was felt all over the world. Crystals shattered, magical creatures fled, and people evacuated buildings by the dozens. Ghosts and other spiritual beings all over the world heard the scream and shuddered, wondering what had happened. A power has been let out on the world, they concluded, a power that has never been seen before.

Such was the power of Yami's scream that the gourd started cracking.

The man finally stopped and watched with horrific fascination as that tiny, insignificant crack traveled slowly up the gourd until it reached the top. He would never tell anyone what it was like, simply because he would never exist in the world anymore. The gourd exploded in blinding red light, and the spirit of the Pharaoh broke free of its chains. "Hell yeah," it said. "I'm free. And you'll all pay."

Its eyes glowing redder than ever before, the spirit unleashed waves and waves of pure power on the man's body, watching with satisfaction as it jerked around. "The things that the Pharaoh did weren't even considered powerful! Punishment games? Hah! Shadow Games? Too easy!" the spirit mocked scornfully. "The Pharaoh's true power... he sealed his power in me."

And then the new Yami, the part of Yami that had always been sealed inside Yami's Puzzle, the part of Yami even Yami himself didn't dare let out, disappeared into the darkness.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

D: Sorry it took so darned long guys! I had a month full of tests, homework, projects and whatnot. Easter holiday is coming on April 8, however, and since I have passed the hard bit (the next bits are easier than this to string together) updates WILL be quicker, yay!

And yes, I ditched the whole Yami's past thing.


	4. Pending rewritation

**YAAYYY! DOUBLE UPDATE!**

Vaness: Yay! Chapter 4! Sadly to say, this chapter won't be as hyper as the previous Chapter 4... if your memories stretch that far, that is.

Seto: Mine certainly does.

Telly: Shut up, Seto.

Seto: Hmph.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Japanese names to dub names: Malik – Marik, Jounouchi (Jou) – Joey, Seto – Kaiba, Ryou – Bakura (But everyone calls him Bakura anyway), Sugoroku – Grandpa Moto (Solomon? Simon? Who knows?), Otogi – Duke Devlin, Isis – Ichizu, Shizuka – Serenity, Honda – Tristan, Anzu – Teá.

Key:

Key:

(( )) - yami to hikari

( )- hikari to yami

" " - speech

' ' - thoughts

_Italics_ - letters, newspaper articles, emphasized words etc.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Chapter 4 –

"Oh dear."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Now he's gone, what use do I have for this?" the figure laughed bitterly. "We have to get him back no matter what it takes, for he is my tool in the road to the domination of the wizarding world!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Well, Sybill, what of the boy?" asked Dumbledore expectantly, as the Divination teacher burst into his office. To say that Sybill Trelawney looked, at that point, like a teacher, was an understatement. Her hair was wild (as in, even wilder than usual), her glasses were fogged up, and a frantic demeanor had replaced her normally misty one.

"Ohh, terrible, terrible, Albus. He is in terrible danger. Even Firenze agrees with me on that one, and you know how we don't mix. I told him!" she suddenly screeched, "I TOLD him on the last lesson! I told him to beware! But he obviously hasn't listened to me, as I predict that he will be mortally injured!"

Dumbledore's heart suddenly became very heavy.

"Call Professor Snape, please, Sybill," he said. "We have something to discuss."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Arthur Weasley was just a normal man working for the Order of the Phoenix, walking around his patrol area. Yup, just your average fighter of evil. He had circled the area 999 times now and was looking forward to his thousandth. 'Thousand times lucky, as they say', he thought cynically. However, he was prevented from finishing his thousandth circle as, rounding a corner, he stumbled onto two bodies. Panic went through Arthur's brain at first, but before he broke into hysterics he steeled himself and knelt down to check them.

They were clothed and appeared to be foreign. Fortunately, they were still breathing. Arthur thought that they seemed rather Asian or even Japanese in fact. They, a boy and an old man, both had spiky hair; 'Must be a family trait,' Arthur mused. In the dark, Arthur could not see their hair color; if he had, he would've been shocked. The boy's hair was multicolored in such a way even a spell could not have made the same effect. And it, as Arthur would find out later, was natural.

But Arthur could not think of hair color and family traits at such crucial moments. He quickly Apparated into St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries with a loud crack.

"I'm here to check in two patients. They seem to be in pretty bad shape."

"Very well, sir," the receptionist replied.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Seto Kaiba honestly could not believe that the whole mess has started yesterday. Today, his last day at KaibaCorp for quite a while, he had to deal with the usual. Same old, same old. They were going to fly to London to apparently save Yuugi, who had landed himself in yet another mess. Seto, leaping at the chance to test his new jet prototype (or so he told himself...), had grudgingly agreed. Mokuba, after hearing of this, had decided that he wanted to go too, and since not even Seto can resist Mokuba's Puppy Eyes, off he went.

"Clothes?" Mokuba asked, holding a pen in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

"Check."

"Sanitary items?"

"Check."

"Laptop?"

"Check. Come on, Mokuba. You wouldn't expect me to forget my _laptop_, would you?"

"Expect the unexpected, nii-sama. It's the golden rule for business. That's what you say anyway. The newest KaibaCorp technology ready to be introduced to the English public?"

"Check."

"I swear, nii-sama, you always take advantage of people," Mokuba said, grinning.

"Well, Mokuba," Seto replied pleasantly, checking his fingernails, "Many a chance has slipped through the hands of those who ignore opportunities."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The Bakura household was on a roll. Ryou was systematically going through the stuff he needed in his head and checking to see if it was there, and Bakura was playing with cotton wool. Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

"Yami, have you seen my lucky rabbit's foot?" Ryou asked, sifting around the bookshelf.

"What rabbit's foot?" replied Bakura, shiftily disposing of some fur-covered object. Noticing this, Ryou sighed mentally. "Never mind," he said as he packed the Millennium Puzzle in his bag carefully.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Meanwhile, Jounouchi was attempting to pack. He had gotten everything he needed messily stuffed into a suitcase, when suddenly he remembered that he had forgotten his deck. Which was, thanks to Honda's passion for video games, messily strewn all over the house. He quickly looked everywhere, packing them together, until he only needed one more card. With about a minute to go. 'Where's my Skull Dice?' he asked himself mentally, looking around at the mess in his room. Just his luck! To Jounouchi, his deck was God. Even if he probably wouldn't need it in England, he wouldn't leave without it complete.

"AUGH!" he screamed in frustration. "SKULL DICE COME TO ME!

Skull Dice hurtled across the room from under a flowerpot into Jounouchi's hand with a thwack.

Jounouchi blinked. "This magic thing is actually quite useful," he mused thoughtfully.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Malik was thinking about the letter from Dumbledore as he packed his bag to go to England. He had not forgotten it, even if the others had in the wake of Yuugi's disappearance. So he packed a few things he thought might be useful. After all, you have to prepare for the unexpected, like 8 hours of boredom in Seto's plane. Remembering that, Malik put his Millenium Rod inside his pocket. A wicked idea was beginning to form inside his mind.

"Heh heh heh..." the Gravekeeper cackled to himself as he carried his bag to Kaiba Mansion.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"I can't believe they didn't tell us until the very last minute!" Honda complained on the phone.

"I know! I suppose they were preoccupied, what with Yuugi's disappearance and all... but they could have spared five minutes!" Anzu replied.

"Yeah..." Honda said. "Oh well, be glad they didn't leave without us. Although I know Jounouchi would never do that."

"I guess so," Anzu said, not letting the uncertainty show in her voice. "I'm almost done packing though. Are you?"

A sharp gasp came from the other end. "Are you kidding me, Mazaki? I'm not that quick with packing for journeys!"

Anzu sighed. "Well, I'd better come over then. Wait for me."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Are we all ready yet?" asked Seto's pilot, Takegawa Juno. Juno (who looked about twenty or so) was dressed very stylishly, his outfit including a beige pilot suit and a pair of goggles, which Malik had pronounced 'cool' and had plucked off him once they had become acquainted.

"Yeah..." Honda and Anzu said.

"Yep," said Ryou cheerfully lugging a bag the size of Egypt and hauling it in the plane.

(I'm letting you take over for the duration of the flight,) Ryou told his yami. (Something's going to happen. I know these people.)

((Thanks a lot,)) Yami Bakura grumbled. (You'll thank me, all right,) Ryou said, smiling. (You'll have so much fun your gut will burst.)

"I'm ready," said Jounouchi, carrying a small rucksack. "But Kaiba, are you sure that this plane will work? I mean, if it doesn't, we could DIE." He gasped theatrically.

"Every aircraft has a chance of crashing. This _jet_ just has an added chance, that's all," Seto replied sharply, emphasizing the word _jet_.

"Now, Malik," Isis began her Be Good Or Else You Will Face Certain Death speech severely, "if Kaiba-san says you're not good in England, I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Malik just grinned cheekily, knowing full well that his sister knew what he was going to do. "And after that, I'll file for child abuse." Isis grinned despite herself, and knocked Malik on the head.

"OWW! Isis..."

"Come on, let's go," said Seto impatiently, getting on the jet, "unless you want Yuugi to die."

Yami Bakura (Ryou had decided to relinquish control a little earlier than he'd intended to) turned a wistful look towards Seto, "Aw, Seto, you always spoil everything..."

Seto narrowed his eyes. "Don't. Call me Seto."

Yami Bakura replied, "Alright then, Seto. I won't call you Seto."

Seto's eye twitched. "Ya... mi... Ba... ku... ra..."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Seto glanced with annoyance and Malik, who was playing Pharaoh, an Egyptian citybuilding game, on his laptop. "Malik..." he began exasperatedly. But Malik merely whined, "A few minutes more, please, Kaiba! I only have to set up a few more temples, and then I'll win the scenario!"

So Seto waited patiently. And waited. And waited. Until he could wait no more.

"Malik, can I have my laptop back, please?" asked Seto for the thousandth time.

"No, Kaiba, just a few more minutes! I only have to build a housing neighborhood, hire workers for the Firehouses, Police Stations, Architect Posts, Temples, Farms, Work Camps, Potters, Breweries..." Malik went on and on.

Seto sighed.

Meanwhile, Jounouchi, Mokuba and Yami Bakura were playing with Seto's amazing LCD Screen TV. "Cool!" said Jounouchi, flipping the channels like a master. "This thing has like 645 channels!"

"And you've flipped through them all in 5 minutes," agreed Yami Bakura, lounging on the couch. "My nii-sama is good," said Mokuba appreciatively. "Subscribing to 645 channels. If we were going to sell it, it would fetch eight million US at least."

Eventually, after two more hours, Malik stopped playing Pharaoh and joined Jounouchi and co. on the couch, leaving Seto to conduct his business.

"Hey, stop!" he said impatiently as Jounouchi flipped through the channels. "Stop flipping those channels so fast, Jounouchi! I wanted to watch that!"

"Watch what?" Jounouchi asked giddily, flipping through even more channels.

"That one!" Malik told him, then said "No, you! The one before the one before... drat, never min—no, that one! JOUNOUCHI!" Malik took a swipe at the remote control, but Jounouchi held it up high in the air, grinning. Yami Bakura laughed, watching the scene unfold in front of him and Malik scowled. "Your skills could really help now, you know?" he told the Tomb Robber, who had his hands stuck in his pockets.

"I only help when I want to," the Tomb Robber replied lazily, and he received a glare from Malik. Then Malik stopped reaching for the remote and looked and Seto slyly. "He's immersed in his laptop. Good," he whispered to the others. "Why?" asked Mokuba. Yami Bakura caught on, and told Mokuba, "We're gonna play a trick on your brother." Jounouchi added, grinning, "Translation: We're gonna have some fun." Mokuba smiled slyly. "Tell me about it," he said, as Malik fingered his Millenium Rod suggestively. One thing was for sure. Seto would not like their idea of fun.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Juno was piloting the plane, and calculated that due to unexpected turbulence, they would reach England in 3 more hours, not 1 and a half. He set the plane on Auto, then wandered to the bar to get a drink. Seeing Honda and Anzu, he went over to them.

"Hey," he said, sliding into a seat near them. "What brings you to London, anyway?"

He saw Honda look at Anzu, and Anzu look at Honda. Finally, Anzu spoke.

"We're not really sure..." she said. "Apparently Yuugi's gone missing again. You know, Mutou Yuugi? His place was ransacked and he's disappeared. Somehow Jounouchi and the others think he's in England."

"Although, you know, we may not be able to trust Jounouchi," Honda said, grinning. Anzu, however, did not take it the way he intended. She frowned, then told him, "Yuugi's missing! Don't joke like that, Honda, it just makes the situation even worse!"

She then walked out of the bar...

...and walked back in, a strange expression on her face. She motioned outside, and told Juno, "You know... you should probably be out there." He walked out with her following and Honda, not wanting to be alone, followed as well.

What they saw made them... was it laugh or cry? They weren't sure. All they knew was that Seto was singing operatic music at the top of his voice.

Which, incidentally, wasn't very high.

Anyway, Malik was controlling him, and Jounouchi, Mokuba and Yami Bakura were laughing, so yes, Honda, Anzu and Juno were very, very scared.

After a most enthusiastic rendition of 'Memory', in which the cast continuously cringed, Malik looked to them for suggestions.

"Well..." Anzu said.

"I know!" Jounouchi butted in, grinning, "It's a Small World!"

"A wonderful idea!" Malik said, and Seto opened his mouth and began to sing.

"It's a world of laughter

A world of tears," Seto twirled around and did several _jetés_ with the grace of a ballerina. Jounouchi was laughing at the sight of his former nemesis bawl his head off and started singing jokingly, changing the words to words you shouldn't say. Anzu, guessing where it had come from, glared at Honda, but Honda was also singing as well.

Oblivious, Seto continued,

"It's a world of hopes

And a world of fears," Ryou had come out ("Couldn't resist," whispered Yami Bakura as he entered his Soul Room) and was eyeing Seto disapprovingly, but mostly with amusement. "Good one," whispered Ryou, leaning towards Malik. Malik looked very surprised that _Ryou_, of all people, had said that, but he merely grinned and mouthed, 'There's more.' Ryou raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "Really?" and Malik nodded.

Meanwhile Seto was doing _glissades_ around the plane, going through the kitchen, the bar, and the lounge once again, and so on, singing,

"There's so much that we share

That it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all!" Mokuba was laughing at his poor brother, and Yami Bakura ruffled Mokuba's hair. Juno was beyond shock, but once the fact that his boss was doing ballet in the middle of a jet flying to England finally entered his brain, he stared, stupefied, for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

"There is just one moon

And one golden sun

And a smile means

Friendship to ev'ryone," Seto danced into a Kuriboh which promptly disappeared. Everybody eyed Yami Bakura suspiciously, but he just grinned and shuffled his deck.

Seto was now panting heavily, for, despite his slim figure, he was severely unfit. "I think we should let him finish the song, should we?" asked Yami Bakura. Jounouchi, looking disappointed, nodded nonetheless, and Malik sighed. "Okay," he said in resignation, "No more ballet moves for our favorite CEO." Seto stopped dancing and finished bawling out the song between gaps that were filled with panting, "Though the mountains divide

And the oceans are wide

It's a small world after all!

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world!" Seto did several cartwheels, crashed into the refrigerator (because he's so darned tall), and finally did a perfect back flip to land in front of Malik, who he promptly glared at. Well, it's true that he didn't know what he had been doing, but you could call it instinct. Then he glared at Juno, who was practically exploding with laughter.

"I am sorry my boss, for laughing," Juno said apologetically, after suppressing the laughter with great difficulty, "but you were really very funny!" He hiccuped and started laughing again.

Mokuba grinned evilly.

"I don't know what you made me do, but I'm so getting you for this, Malik!" Seto said very dangerously. But since Seto said everything dangerously or at least with a hostile air, Malik, long used to it, didn't bat an eye. Or even an eyelash.

Juno took that moment to inch out of the scene and into the cockpit, where he resumed flying.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The door to 12 Grimmauld Place opened and a soaked, trembling person entered the hall of Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He went into the living room, where Molly Weasley was flitting around, cleaning and polishing the house. "Oh, Wood, it's you," she said in surprise. Then she noticed Oliver's appearance and asked, concerned, "What happened to you, Oliver? Why aren't you at your place?"

Oliver replied, steadying himself by placing his hand on the stairs, with a trembling voice, "My parents are dead. Flint killed them."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Er... onii-sama means big brother.

Sorry... this is a weird chapter -.-;

I had my German GCSE oral today... more on the next chapter. ;)


	5. writing, Re

Telly: Chapter 5!

Vaness: Yay!

Yami Bakura and Yami: No!

Yeah... it's a short chapter.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Japanese names to dub names: Malik – Marik, Jounouchi (Jou) – Joey, Seto – Kaiba, Ryou – Bakura (But everyone calls him Bakura anyway), Sugoroku – Grandpa Moto (Solomon? Simon? Who knows?), Otogi – Duke Devlin, Isis – Ichizu, Shizuka – Serenity, Honda – Tristan, Anzu – Teá.

Key:

Key:

(( )) - yami to hikari

( )- hikari to yami

" " - speech

' ' - thoughts

_Italics_ - letters, newspaper articles, emphasized words etc.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Chapter 5 –

"Business in England"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The youth hurt all over. Repeated "Crucios" and being locked in the dungeon was his punishment for defying his father and "defiling his family line's pure blood", it seemed. Although, knowing his family and their alignment, that wasn't surprising.

And it was going to start all over again. The youth could hear his father's footsteps getting louder, coming closer, and going to enter his prison. He braced himself for more "Crucios", more kicks and the like. And then he heard somebody knock on the front door.

The footsteps stopped abruptly and headed for the other direction. Since the dungeon was directly under the main hall, the youth could hear everything that was going on. The door was opened, probably by his house elf, and the youth immediately recognized the cold, sneering voice of his Head of House, Professor Snape.

"Hello, Patrick."

"Hello, Severus," his father replied. "What brings you here in the middle of summer?"

"It concerns your—" Snape strained his ears. "What made that sound? You have something in your dungeon?"

The youth couldn't see it, but he was sure his father's mouth had curled into a sneer. "Oh, yes. I think I'll bring you to see him... maybe you can give him a lesson."

Footsteps got closer and closer, and the door opened. Snape's features remained expressionless, and he said, "So Mr. Zabini has done something wrong?" in a rather neutral tone.

Patrick Zabini spat on the ground. "I gave him some training, and he failed."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "I see. What spurred this change of heart?"

"You'll have to ask him for that," the elder Zabini replied. "But you can't ask him now. You see, I'm still busy punishing him." He raised his wand and the youth flinched involuntarily.

"Really," Snape's mouth curled into a sneer. "Allow me to join in." He raised his wand.

"Stupefy!"

The youth's father barely had time to react as he realized the red light was heading towards him instead of his son. He crumpled onto the ground and lay there, unmoving.

The youth stared at his Potions teacher, partly in fascination and partly in confusion. Then the pain proved too much for him and he fainted.

Snape looked at his pupil. His features were impassive, but if you looked hard, you could see the little amount of softness in his eyes. "I risked my life to save you, Zabini," Snape hissed after picking him up. "Don't disappoint me."

Then Snape Apparated into 12 Grimmauld Place.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The spirit of Yami, or rather Yami's yami, looked around at the destruction he had caused, and his mouth curled into a sneer. These... people, this race would pay, for attempting to enslave the Pharaoh, for believing they had enslaved the Pharaoh. No, said a little voice at the end of the Pharaoh's mind. The whole world will pay. The whole planet shall perish in thinking that they could enslave the Pharaoh! This voice grew stronger and stronger, and stronger. The Pharaoh would rule the world!

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Yay! We're in England!" Mokuba shouted, jumping up and down on the deluxe plush sofa. They were in one of Seto's mansions in London, in its full regalia. Or, simply putting it, the mansion was very posh. "I wanna go to Claires'!" Mokuba continued. The others looked at him oddly. "Ignorant we may be, but we know that Claires' is definitely a GIRL'S SHOP," Honda said. Mokuba pouted. "That's not fair!" he said, "Neopets is sexist!"

"And country-ist too," Ryou added, "I notice they don't sell Neopets rare, limited edition plushies in Japan!"

"Yeah, whatever," Malik said airily. "I don't like Neopets. I think it's a bit stupid and unrealistic." Hearing this, Mokuba positively quivered with indignation. "Of course it's realistic!" he shouted. "Tell them, nii-sama! Tell them it's realistic!"

"Wait," Yami Bakura popped out of Ryou's body as a spirit. "You're saying Seto plays Neopets?" There was a bit of silence as his statement sunk in. There was a sweatdrop hanging at the back of Yami Bakura, Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda and Malik's heads. Then Mokuba drew himself up importantly and replied, "Yeah! Nii-sama plays Neopets on his laptop when he has boring board meetings!"

Everybody looked at Seto.

Seto went bright crimson and mumbled," Yeah... well... um..."

"YOU play Neopets, Seto?" Yami Bakura demanded. "YOU, of all people?" He looked up to the sky and spread out his hands. "Ra, have you provided a place for me up there yet? Seto playing Neopets. The world is coming to an end. I thought you were smarter than that, Seto. Anything my hikari does is bound to be bad." Ryou gave a mild glare at his yami, but declined to comment, and Anzu grinned.

"A MAN OF GOOD FAITH!" roared Malik, grinning wickedly and putting his arm on where he imagined Yami Bakura's shoulder would be.

"Say, Kaiba, you have a pretty nice place here," remarked Jounouchi nonchalantly, totally off the subject.

"Nii-sama has pretty nice places everywhere," Mokuba answered smugly.

Meanwhile, Juno was relaxing in his room, telling his mates and their pet dogs about Seto's _glissades_ and _jetés_.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Yami looked at the destruction that lay before him. Burning buildings, dead people and injured people running around, trying to escape the raging inferno of the uncontrollable spirit.

This scene reminded him of Ookazi, a Duel Monsters card.

_Duel Monsters?_, his inner self asked. _You're too good for that. With such intellect as yours, you should be playing mind games, not pathetic card duels._

"They're not pathetic!" Yami tried to shout. But his inner voice continued smoothly, _They are. You think you're good in Duel Monsters? You think you're the,_ the voice paused, _Game, King?_

_I AM THE KING OF GAMES!_ Yami roared inside his mind.

_Yeah, whatever,_ the voice said dismissively._ Of course you are._

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Kay, nii-sama, I've got the equipment ready," Mokuba reported, keying in some codes in his laptop. "Good," Seto replied. "Check if anything peculiar has been happening recently. You know how we do it." Seto looked up from his laptop.

"Okay, nii-sama!" Mokuba said, typing in more codes.

"Wait a minute..." Jounouchi said, peering at what Mokuba was doing. "You're hacking into companies! Isn't that against the law?"

"Yeah," Mokuba answered, still typing, "But if you do it and not get detected..."

"Really?" Jounouchi asked quizzically. "Mokuba, PLEASE TEACH ME!"

Seto sighed. "Oh brother."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Seto sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was 2 am, five hours since they had started searching for oddities happening around England. Frankly, Seto had expected better results, since England was a rather modern and close society, but there you go. Nothing was to be found. Ryou, Juno, Malik, Anzu, Honda and Jounouchi had gone out putting up posters of Yuugi around the area in the vain hope that Yuugi had only been kidnapped near the area where they were living. Well, actually, Seto, getting tired of all the "Are you done yet?"s and the "TEACH-ME"s, had originally wanted them out so that he and Mokuba could work in peace, so he had made up a reason.

"Mokuba," Seto asked tiredly for what seemed like the thousandth time. "Any thing on your side?"

"Negative, nii-sama," Mokuba yawned. "Are you even sure Yuugi is even in London?" he managed, before his head plopped onto the table. Seto sighed tiredly and shook his head. He could hardly blame Mokuba for being so dispirited. Yami was, as much as Seto hated to admit it, a born leader, and, understandably, without Yami, Mokuba, and Seto to a lesser degree, felt a little lost. He allowed himself to rest on the table for a while, and before he knew it, he fell asleep...

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Kaiba?" Seto heard someone say. Then someone put a hand on his shoulder. "Kaiba-san, Mokuba-kun, wake up!" said Ryou. "We found something that's probably got to do with Yami. A village has been sacked."

Kaiba jumped up.

"Let's go there. Juno, get the plane going!" The sooner this was resolved, the sooner he could go home.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Yami got ready to leave the scene, but a sound stopped him. It sounded like something crashing down on the ground. He turned around and saw a monstrous... thing land on the ground next to him. He focused his powers and tried to toss it in the flames, but it didn't seem to move. What monstrosity was this? The puzzled evil spirit watched as Seto, Mokuba, Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi, Bakura and Malik exited the... plane. How did he know it was a plane? And how did he know the names of the strange people in it?

_Never mind about them,_ his inner voice shouted. _They're just pathetic people trying to stop you. But have you been stopped before? Hell no! Let's show these pathetic worms what you're all about!_

'Yes,' Yami thought furiously, 'you pathetic worms, wanting to believe you can capture me and bring me back, huh? Well, you're wrong.'

"Yami! Yami-san!" Mokuba shouted. "What happened? Why are you like that, and your eyes? They're red!"

"Why so slow?" Yami sneered. "I expected you to be faster than that. I've already destroyed three villages, you know. You can't capture me again!"

Mokuba blinked and looked utterly confused. "Nii-sama..." he said. Seto looked at Yami, and he took over.

"We don't want to capture you!" he shouted, trying to stall Yami.

"You should know, servants of Voldemort! Or do you tell me he hasn't told you? Oh my..." Yami gave a sadistic little laugh. "Well, it doesn't really matter that I've told you, then. You're gonna die anyway."

"We're not Voldemort's servants!" Malik shouted, alarmed. The name sounded familiar, so it was probably featured in Dumbledore's letter, which he could check later.

"Yeah, yeah, say what you want," Yami said. "Why are you here then? Come to put me back in that gourd, eh? Eh?"

Jounouchi looked at Yami, confused, then at Honda desperately. 'Now I know how Yami felt when he dueled me in Battle City (1),' he thought. 'Except... this time this destruction in by his own will.' "Yami," he said desperately, "We aren't here to imprison you, or anything. We're just here to take your home."

Yami blinked. For a while, confusion reigned on his face. Then the sadistic grin returned with full force. "You'll never fool me, servant of Voldemort, with your pretty talk of 'Come on, we're here to save you, come with us'. Come on, if you want to bring me back, bring me back by force!"

"Yami!" Ryou shouted, shocked. "We don't know who Voldemort is, and why he wants you. That's why we need you to tell us, so we can take care of him!" Eyebrows were raised at this comment. "Yami, please, I'm begging you," Ryou's eyes started filling with tears. "We didn't come here because we wanted to capture you!" he burst out, "It's because you're our friend!"

'Has Bakura been hanging out with Anzu recently?' Jounouchi wondered.

"Pathetic," Yami sneered. "What a pathetic way to lure the prey back to the lioness's cave. You should be ashamed of yourselves, servants of Voldemort, using the friendship crap as an excuse to bring me back there."

Ryou stared at Yami, shocked. The tears dripped down his face and hit the ground.

"Temee(1), Yami!" Honda shouted. "This isn't you, I know, but I'm finding it hard to suppress the urge to beat you up! Don't you recognize us?"

Anzu was just silent. This couldn't be happening...

And Yami Bakura...

Yami Bakura shook with fury as he surfaced. His hair started flaring up and his eyes started glowing with rage.

"Nobody. Makes. My. Hikari. CRY! Nobody damn well even makes my hikari SNIFFLE!" (The others immediately resolved to treat Ryou a little better from now on) "You damn well have a good reason for that, or I'll be forced to fight you!" Jounouchi, Malik, Anzu, Honda, Mokuba and Seto looked on, dumbfounded and Yami laughed. "All right, then. 'We'll fight!' NOW the servants of Voldemort finally resort to force." Yami's grin stretched wider. "I'll be glad to fight you, Yami Bakura. After all, I am the Game King!"

"Let's duel then!" Yami Bakura shouted and took out his deck. "I'd specially formatted it for our upcoming battle!" But Yami smiled thinly. "Duel Monsters? How pathetic," he sneered. Yami Bakura gaped in astonishment. "Pardon me?" But his words were ignored, as Yami continued, "No, we need a battle of the minds. But I will win. I am the best, and the world is at my mercy!"

("Sound like someone you knew?" Seto asked Malik sarcastically. "I loved my yami very much, Kaiba," was the equally sarcastic reply.)

Yami Bakura's eyes narrowed. That wasn't the goody-goody 'Oh, believe in the Heart of the Cards!' Pharaoh he knew. "I think we'd better duel," he said. "With cards. I'll crush you, I will. Or is the Pharaoh too scared of losing?" he sneered.

Yami glared at Bakura. "I must admit you are persuasive," he said finally. "It'll be nice to destroy you with the game you love the most."

"DUEL!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

1 – Temee: It's a particularly rude way of addressing someone. Can be translated to 'you bastard!'

Telly: Chapter end! Depressing bit over! (Was it even depressing?)

Vaness: Till next chapter, don't worry, Telly's Dreadfully Written Horror/Angst/Drama fans :D

Ooh, I just took my German Oral GCSE T.T It was scary, it was. Until I got to the waiting room. Well, for you US people you know how the SATs are like equivalent to the A-Levels in Britain (...or not? xD) Well, the GCSE is taken two years before that, in Year 11. So um... yeah.

And I went on a writing spree in the holidays! I'm so proud of mee! ;D

Please r & r ;)


	6. Rewriting II

Telly: Chapter 6... but I feel so unloved... only what... one review? (Except for Isis') And that was after like... what, 20 days? .start rant. I mean... my story's had 679 hits so far. Even divided by 5 it would be like 33-34 per chapter. D: Chapter 4 and 5 had 39 and 50 hits respectively... .end rant.

Yami Bakura and Yami: Hey... that means no one sees our sappy scenes, right?

Vaness: -lapping up angst-

Honda and Anzu: Just what are we doing there anyway?

Oh, and in the duel I'm including the attack and defense after the monster names when they're summoned only.

And by the way, just to make it sound better... whenever Yami Bakura says 'Pharaoh' pronounce it in your mind as 'fa-ra-oh'. ;D

Oh, and guess what? I'm in a C2! I never realized... until now... called Darkness, Light, Hogwarts. It's a collection of HPxYGO stories...

Kindly beta-ed by **Isis the Sphinx**!

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Japanese names to dub names: Malik – Marik, Jounouchi (Jou) – Joey, Seto – Kaiba, Ryou – Bakura (But everyone calls him Bakura anyway), Sugoroku – Grandpa Moto (Solomon? Simon? Who knows?), Otogi – Duke Devlin, Isis – Ichizu, Shizuka – Serenity, Honda – Tristan, Anzu – Teá.

Key:

(( )) - yami to hikari

( )- hikari to yami

" " - speech

' ' - thoughts

_Italics_ - letters, newspaper articles, emphasized words etc.

**Bold** - Narrator

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Chapter 6 –

"Yami Bakura vs Yami – DUEL!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"_Let's just start the chapter, all right? Ladies and Gentlemen, please prepare your "Crappy Horror Gaspers"," Malik said impatiently._

"_Do you mind telling me what the heck a Crappy Horror Gasper is?" Jounouchi asked._

"_It's to help you gasp at the appropriate time in the middle of Telly's Crappy Horror Chapter," Malik explained. "Useful, isn't it?"_

Chapter start! Please r & r:)

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

**Last chapter...**

"NOBODY MAKES MY HIKARI CRY!" Yami Bakura raged. "Nobody damn well even makes my hikari SNIFFLE! You damn well have a good reason for that, or I'll be forced to fight you!"

**Yami escaped from Voldemort, and went on a village-sacking spree! Our heroes, after a trip in a jet to England, found him... but not only did Yami not acknowledge them, he hurt them! Ryou tried to beg Yami to return to his old self, but was unsuccessful! Yami even tormented Ryou mercilessly until Ryou burst into tears! In a heartbeat, Yami Bakura, naturally protective of his hikari, challenged Yami to a duel. He knows he's lost to Yami before... so why is he so confident?**

"DUEL!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The scene was set. On the right, a white-haired, demonic-looking teenage boy stood glaring at his opponent on the left, a tri-color-haired spirit with eerie crimson eyes, and, if possible, looked even more demonic that the former.

"Shall we start then?" the tri-color-haired spirit said lazily.

"Okay," Yami Bakura said. "But no duel is complete without its consequences. I'm not dueling you for fun, you know."

"I'm fully aware of that," Yami replied.

"Well," Yami Bakura said, "I'll tell you my terms. If I win, we'll do what we see fit to do to you. But if you win, you can destroy all of us. That includes my friends and the plane." Gasps of indignation met this statement. "Yami Bakura!" Jounouchi called. "You can set your life at any price, but don't bring us down with you!" Yami Bakura stared at Jounouchi, annoyed, then his face broke out into a mock pout. "Why, Jounouchi! Do you have no confidence in my dueling ability? Don't worry. I'll win if it's the last thing I'll do." 'And anyway,' he thought, 'I didn't say we couldn't escape.' But he wisely kept this thought to himself.

Yami considered Yami Bakura's terms. Finally, he proclaimed his verdict. "Fool," he said calmly. "Throwing away your lives. But I accept. As I said before, it'll be fun to destroy you using the game you love the most."

"Well," Yami Bakura replied, "We'll have to see about that, won't we?" He pulled out his Duel Disk.

Then, facing each other, they shouted, "DUEL!"

Yami: 8000 LP

Yami Bakura: 8000 LP

"I'll start," Yami said, pulling out his deck from the shadows and creating a Shadow Duel Disk for himself. He drew six cards and grinned as a dark shadow started swirling out of nowhere around the group. "I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600) in attack mode and I'll also set a card. I end my turn."

"My turn," Yami Bakura said, smirking back. "I summon Death Calibre Knight (1900/1800) in attack mode. Attack Beta the Magnet Warrior!"

Death Calibre Knight went for the Magnet Warrior, but stopped midway when Yami raised a hand.

"I activate my trap card, Zero Gravity, which switches both our monsters into defense mode!" Yami said. Yami Bakura did not react and continued, "I set a card and end my turn."

"It's my turn!" Yami said, drawing. "I discard one card from my hand to summon Tricky (2000/1200) in attack mode, and I switch Beta the Magnet Warrior back into attack mode. Tricky, destroy his Death Calibre Knight! And now, Beta the Magnet Warrior, attack him directly!"

With a flick of _his_ hand, Yami Bakura opened the set card. "I play Spirit Shield! As long as I move one monster from my graveyard out of play, I can turn the battle damage for this turn down to zero. I remove my Death Calibre Knight!"

"I'll set another card and end my turn, then," Yami finished off.

"My turn," Yami Bakura said as he drew. "I set one card and fuse the Earl of Demise with the Headless Knight to create the Duke of Demise (2000/1700)! Destroy his Beta the Magnet Warrior!"

This time, there was nothing to stop his monster, and Beta the Magnet Warrior was destroyed.

Yami: 7700 LP

Yami Bakura: 8000 LP

"I end my turn," Yami Bakura finished. Mokuba started to cheer at this small victory, and Honda and Jounouchi joined in.

"It's my turn," Yami said, drawing. "I sacrifice Tricky to summon the Dark Magician Girl (2000/1200)! The card I discarded to summon Tricky was the Dark Magician, so she gains 300 extra attack points. Go, my Dark Magician Girl, and destroy his Duke of Demise!"

"Don't be so hasty, Pharaoh," Yami Bakura said and drew. "This card can't be destroyed in battle, even if I'll have to pay 500 LP during each of my Standby phases. I set a card and end my turn."

Yami Bakura: 7200 LP

"My turn," Yami said, drawing. "I summon the Queen's Knight (1500/1600) in attack mode."

"I activate my two facedowns!" Yami Bakura cut in. "Dead Dragon Zoma and An Invitation to Earth Spirits! First, my Dead Dragon Zoma gives me a token on my side of the field in defense mode (1800/500). Next, An Invitation to Earth Spirits forces one monster on your side to attack any target I choose. I choose to make it that your Dark Magician Girl attacks my Dead Dragon Zoma token."

The Dark Magician Girl raised her wand and cast a spell on the token. It was destroyed, but the blast that ensued somehow took her out as well.

Yami stared in disbelief. "But... my monster's attack strength was higher!"

Yami Bakura smirked. "Dead Dragon Zoma's special effect deals twice the damage of the monster that destroyed it to the opponent. You should know that. After all, you ARE the Game King."

Yami: 3100 LP

Yami scowled and ended his turn.

"My turn, draw," Yami Bakura said.

Yami Bakura: 6700 LP

"I sacrifice the Duke of Demise to summon the Diabound Colonel (1800/1600) in attack mode. Attack his Queen's Knight, Diabound!"

Diabound Colonel went forth to do Yami Bakura's bidding, and the Queen's Knight was destroyed, cueing more cheering from Mokuba, Honda and Jounouchi. "I end my turn!"

Yami: 2800 LP

"My turn, draw!" Yami said. "I activate Card of Sanctity, which forces us to draw until we have six cards in our hands. I drew Watapon who, thanks to its effect, is automatically summoned to the field. Next, I activate Soul Release, removing 5 of your cards in your graveyard from play. Which includes all the monsters."

Yami Bakura flinched slightly. 'Now I don't have anything for my Spirit Shield...'

Yami wasn't finished. "Next, I activate Brain Control, which for the cost of 800 LP gives me control of your Diabound Colonel. I sacrifice Watapon and Diabound to summon Buster Blader (2600/2300)! Attack Yami Bakura directly!"

Yami: 2000 LP

Yami Bakura: 4100 LP

"I set a card and end my turn," Yami finished.

Yami Bakura drew. "I activate Pot of Greed which allows me to draw two more cards. First, I'll activate Grief Tablet and equip it onto your Buster Blader. Now he can't attack or activate any of his effects. By the way, if it's destroyed, the owner of the monster it's equipped to loses 500LP. I'll set a monster and end my turn."

"My turn," Yami said and drew. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (1900/1000) in attack mode! Attack his facedown monster, Breaker!"

Breaker slashed at the facedown card, revealing a Man-Eater Bug. Yami Bakura grinned.

"You attacked my Man-Eater Bug! I'll destroy your Buster Blader, and, since he was equipped with Grief Tablet you lose 500LP."

Yami glared at Yami Bakura. "Stop gloating! This duel isn't over yet! I set a card and end my turn."

Yami: 1500 LP

"It's my turn," Yami Bakura said and drew. "I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Diabound Colonel (1800/1600). Then I set two cards. End of turn."

"My turn now," Yami said. "I sacrifice Breaker to summon the Archfiend of Gilfer (2200/2500)-"

"I activate my trap card," Yami Bakura interrupted, grinning, "Mirror Tablet. It takes half of the attack points of the monster you just summoned and adds it to my Diabound (now 2750/1600). How about now, Pharaoh?"

Yami gritted his teeth and ended his turn.

Yami Bakura drew. "Diabound, destroy his Archfiend of Gilfer!"

"Not so fast, Yami Bakura! I play Magic Cylinder," Yami countered. "Your Life Points are now 1350, Yami Bakura. Oh dear."

"Whatever, Pharaoh," Yami Bakura replied. "I end my turn."

"My turn," Yami said, drawing. "I activate Dark Magic Curtain, sacrificing half of my Life Points to bring out Dark Magician (2500/2100). Next, I play Pot of Greed, which gives me two more cards. I then play Giant Trunade, which returns all magic and trap cards to their owners' hands. Finally I'll play Magic Formula, which increases my Dark Magician's attack to 3000. Go, my Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!"

The attack met its mark, and Diabound Colonel was destroyed.

Yami: 750 LP

Yami Bakura: 1100 LP

'This is bad...' Yami Bakura thought. 'I can easily stall the next turn, but this can't go on. I've had the Pharaoh stuck many times, but he's always managed to come through. I wonder if the Heart of the Cards would work for a tomb robber like me?'

(Of course it will, yami,) Ryou said.

Yami Bakura jumped (in his head, of course). ((Ryou!)) he exclaimed. Then, ((Where were you during the entirety of this duel? You only appear now, when I'm in deep trouble!))

(Well, yami,) Ryou said patiently, (you didn't seem to be trouble before now so I didn't feel the need to help you. But now you are. In trouble, I mean. Believe in the Heart of the Cards, yami. It never works for me but I'm sure it'll work for you just this once.)

((Thanks, hikari,)) Yami Bakura replied gruffly. "'S my turn," he said, willing with all his heart, and drew. And a tiny bit of hope presented itself.

"I'll summon the Necro Soldier (0/0) and then I'll activate Multiply, giving me three Necro Soldiers," he continued. "Then I'll activate Ultimate Offering, which allows me to summon another monster at a cost of 500LP. Guess who, Pharaoh? I'm thinking he's the only one who can wake you now. Hail, Osiris! (X000/X000) Come forth and meet your master!" He placed the card onto his Duel Disk, and the shadow dome shook. Thunder from the heavens rumbled, and Osiris slowly descended onto Yami Bakura's field. Mokuba, Jounouchi and Honda were quiet, in awe, and the Goddess stared at Yami with bright burning eyes.

But Yami paid her no heed. "You only have one card in your hand, Yami Bakura," he informed him caustically. "That means Osiris only has 1000 attack points."

"Too true, Pharaoh," Yami Bakura said, disappointed, "but I'll set a card and end my turn anyway."

Yami smirked. "Now Osiris has zero attack points." He drew and announced, "This duel is over. Attack Osiris, Dark Magician!"

"Have you grown careless, dear Pharaoh?" Yami Bakura asked. "I won't lose that easily, you know. Activate Spirit Shield, and I remove Diabound out of play."

"You can't always count on your defeated monsters, Yami Bakura," Yami replied. "The turn after next, you'll be defenseless. I'll just wait. End of turn."

"Draw," Yami Bakura said, and smiled. An actual, sincere smile, which in fact shocked the guts out of everyone who saw it. "I play Card of Demise. This trap lets me draw 5 cards, but in 5 turns I have to discard my entire hand. But of course, I won't have to, will I?" he added. "It's over, Pharaoh." (Osiris: 5000/5000)

"No," Yami said disbelievingly. "It can't be..."

"It is," Yami Bakura restated firmly. "Go, Osiris!"

Osiris gave a mighty roar and in one blow felled the Dark Magician, depleting the rest of Yami's Life Points. The shadow dome vanished, and Yami fell onto his knees, head hanging low. "This can't be. I... lost?"

Yami: 0000 LP

Yami Bakura: 1100 LP

Yami Bakura walked towards him, bent down and held out his hand. Yami looked up, surprised. His eyes were back to their normal color. They followed Yami Bakura's hand and stopped just above his head. "...Tomb Robber?" he whispered.

"You're yourself again, I see," Yami Bakura noted brusquely and noticed Yami staring at his hand. "Get up, alright?" he said irritably. "And don't get fooled by this... this... uh, nice thing. This is only for my hikari." Yami, still staring wonderingly at the outstretched hand, accepted it. With the help of Yami Bakura, he got up, stumbling. He grabbed Yami Bakura's shoulder for support; then, realizing what he had done began to withdraw his hand. But Yami Bakura stopped him. "Your body is hardly fit to go roaming about alone. You need to be supported," he said sharply. "Even demons can show kindness sometimes." Then they finally noticed the others staring with astonishment at the scene unfolding before them. "Heheh?" Yami Bakura laughed weakly.

"This is even better than the soap operas!" Malik said, grinning at them. _It's OK now_, he mouthed.

Anzu, reduced to tears at one point during the duel, gave a tearful smile and ran over, hugging the both of them.

Jounouchi and Honda grinned at Yami, and Mokuba laughed while Seto merely glanced at Yami and said, "Hn."

"Jounouchi... Anzu... Honda... Malik... Kaiba... Mokuba..." Yami said, faltering. He averted his eyes and looked at the floor. For a while nobody moved. Then Jounouchi walked up to Yami and clapped his other shoulder. "Don't worry, Yami," he said, grinning weakly. "You're fine now. All is forgiven."

Seto clapped Yami's shoulder as well. "That was a good duel," he said amiably. "Just telling you, but I'm thinking of holding another tournament. You should join."

"Yeah, Yami-san," Mokuba said happily, "Nii-sama's right. I'm glad you're okay now."

"Let's go back to the mansion, shall we?" Honda asked, bowing like a butler, a small smile gracing his face.

Yami managed a small smile. "All right," he said.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Gosh, that was grueling to write.

"_Yes, Osiris is female. I don't care what you think, this is my fic and Osiris is female. So sue me," Telly said, grinning._

_However Vaness paid no heed. Instead, she was tackling a more important issue. " ...you hired a narrator?"_

"_Yeah, I had to use up our extra cash somehow..." Telly replied nervously._

_Vaness turned annoyed. "Hikari, that "extra cash" you're talking about is... was my savings to buy a CD!"_

"_And guess what? Telly and Vaness are doing before they even started the chapter," said guess who, yes, Seto._

"_Stop ratting in on us," Telly and Vaness told Seto. "Remember who's doing the main funding for the KaibaCorp Toilet Paper Advertising. (A story idea I had, incidentally. NO STICKY HANDS!)"_

NEXT CHAPTER: **Yes, finally civilization for our heroes! See, Jounouchi, magic exists! Our heroes find Yuugi at last, and are looking forward to an education in Hogwarts. Now it's time for a peaceful interlude, and they settle down in their new home!**

"_I tell you, my light, you really should fire him," Vaness grumbled._

"_But he was really cheap, only like $1 per chapter!" Telly protested._

_Malik immediately started to cough repeatedly. In the middle of his fit were words that sounded suspiciously like "ripoff"._

"_Judging by Telly's sad feelings and the war movie she watched recently, there might also be a heart-to-heart talk involving Yami and Yami Bakura too next chapter!" Jounouchi said, smiling slightly._

"_Might!" Malik, who had mysteriously stopped his coughing fit, exclaimed. "It's confirmed!"_

_Yami and Yami Bakura glared at each other. Then they both said, "Joy. And we thought the scene above was hard enough..."_

"_You stumbled about a million times and I had to hold you all those times before Telly thought it was okay..." Yami Bakura grumbled._

"_I had to listen to your speech about being nice and look as if I believed it about a gazillion times before Vaness thought it fit for release..." Yami moaned._

_Anzu opened her mouth._

"_DON'T TALK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP NOW! IT'S THE WRONG! TIME!" Yami Bakura said, turning into Agitated Mode._

Oh dear. I think you'd better go and drop us a review :D

Please r & r:)

**Sakura**: I've stopped playing it, but I left lots of cash in reserve in case I start again. XD Although the new Altador plot is getting on my nerves... I can't find the stupid constellations...


	7. Et cetera

Telly: Yay! Chapter 7!

Vaness: Yeah... I'm totally feeling your enthusiasm.

Malik: Exams next week, hm?

Kindly beta-ed by **Isis the Sphinx**!

If you read this chapter before it was rewritten, you would have read a rather plotless story I made up in summer school two years ago. But since I thought it retarded, I deleted it from the rewrite.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Japanese names to dub names: Malik – Marik, Jounouchi (Jou) – Joey, Seto – Kaiba, Ryou – Bakura (But everyone calls him Bakura anyway), Sugoroku – Grandpa Moto (Solomon? Simon? Who knows?), Otogi – Duke Devlin, Isis – Ichizu, Shizuka – Serenity, Honda – Tristan, Anzu – Teá.

Key:

(( )) - yami to hikari

( ) - hikari to yami

" " - speech

' ' - thoughts

_Italics_ - Newspaper articles, stupid little unrelated mini-stories etc.

Note: **OoTP spoilers! Major! But um... OoTP was kinda 3 years ago so yeah. Hm.**

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Chapter 7 –

"Rest, Recovery and Grimmauld Place"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

(Yami...)

(Yami...)

(YAMI!)

Yuugi woke up with a start, panting heavily. He frantically searched his mind, but could find no trace of his yami. Reining in his panic, he forced himself to keep calm. Looking around, he found out that he was in some sort of hospital. People walked around, talking in a language that was not Japanese, but was rather familiar...

"Ah, you're awake!" a woman said, bustling over. Frowning, he wondered how he understood that. Then he finally recognized the language. And he realized.

It was _English_.

It was not _Japanese_.

That meant he wasn't in _Japan_, much less _Domino_.

What was going on?

Yuugi turned to face the woman and saw his grandfather lying motionless on the bed next to him. "Jii-chan!" erupted out of his mouth before he could stop it. Noticing the cry, and guessing more or less what it meant, the woman said, "I'm your medical nurse for the time being, Kimberley Mann. Your grandfather is fine; he's just very tired. He should wake up soon."

Yuugi smiled at her gratefully and tried to work his tongue into speaking English. Eventually, he uttered, "T-Thenku you..."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Nii-sama, you've got an email from Otogi," Mokuba reported. "He says he's tried to ring by our mansion, but we weren't in. He provided a contact number."

"Ah," Seto said. "Well, I'll call him then." He began dialing a number on his cell phone. "Otogi, this is Kaiba. Sorry about us being unavailable when you called. We'll call you once we get back. Yes, right. Bye." He turned off his cell phone, then turned to Yami Bakura.

"You know, you cheated, tomb robber," Yami said. "You don't have Osiris, Ultimate Offering and Card of Demise in your deck, you know. You probably stole them from us."

"Yes I did, Pharaoh," Yami Bakura said and held out Osiris. "Have your Osiris back. I'm keeping the other two, however. It's the least you can do after I saved you."

"Whatever, tomb robber," Yami replied, but did not press the topic any further.

"We're here," Juno walked in and announced, and Yami Bakura turned to Yami.

"While you're at it, Pharaoh, are you sure you want to return to that maze you call your soul room? Being your loyal subject (and remember I saved your life) I can offer you mine... and in fact, all you need to pay is your Millenium Puzzle!" Yami rolled his eyes. "I'm very happy with my 'maze', but I thank you for your offer. Tomb Robber, you have my gratitude."

"It is received," Yami Bakura replied very formally. "Do consider my offer, though." He was immediately pushed back into his soul room and Ryou appeared. "I'm very, very sorry, Yami-san... my yami still needs to learn to control his mouth," he said apologetically.

"Don't worry about your yami, Bakura," Malik grinned, "We like his mouthiness." They walked (well, Yami floated) out of Seto's jet and into his fancy mansion. Yami was stunned and Seto grinned. "Much fancier than your palace, eh, Yuugi (1)?" Yami blinked and a blank expression came on his face.

"Kaiba, Yami hasn't gotten his memory yet," Jounouchi said irritably.

"I knew that," said Seto, not one to admit his mistake. "It was metaphorical."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Everybody retreated to their rooms and did their own thing for a while and Juno had gone out to buy essentials (there were no servants in Seto's England mansion). After calling Otogi (they arranged to meet tomorrow), Seto went back to his room and started working with his laptop. Ryou was rummaging for the Millenium Puzzle when Yami voiced his question rather tentatively.

"Have any of you seen my hikari?" Ryou turned to him slowly with a troubled look on his face. Uh oh, Yami deduced, this was not good.

"Um," Ryou said. "No. We have no idea where he is."

At that time someone chose to ring the doorbell. Jounouchi ran to the intercom and asked, "Who's there? Otogi?" Yami floated out to see and Ryou followed him. Then a gruff voice erupted from the speaker and nearly blew Jounouchi off his feet, it was _that_ loud. The sound attracted everyone and they came running to the hall.

Meanwhile, the voice said something in a different language that sounded vaguely familiar... At this point, Seto came to the door and said something, also in that language. As our heroes blinked and wondered why Seto could speak that language, Mokuba leaned against the hallway and explained, "The guy's speaking English, guys! I thought you learned in it school!"

"Um..." Jounouchi said. "I think only Yuugi, Anzu and Bakura have actually bothered to listen to the teacher properly. And Otogi knows American English."

"Hey," said Malik, offended. "I know English too! Just not very well..."

"I don't know even a word of English," said Jounouchi glumly.

"Actually, I'm not that good at it," Anzu admitted. "I still try, though."

Mokuba sighed. "Never mind, nii-sama will translate." Seto was still conversing with the stranger through the intercom. Finally he let him in.

Jounouchi, Ryou, Yami, Malik, Honda, Anzu and Mokuba stared.

Standing in front of them was the biggest person they had ever seen. He started speaking again, and when he caught sight of Yami, he started gesturing at Yami and saying even more things. Seto stepped in. Saying something to the man (probably "Wait a moment, I have to translate"), he said irritably, "Did any of you bother listening in English classes?" A blank stare from Jounouchi. Seto sighed. "Bakura, please play translator with me." He leveled a glare on Jounouchi, and said, "This is the last time I'm translating for you, so you better learn English once we get home. Or you could ask Bakura. Anyway, that guy, whose name is Hagrid, said something about Dumbledore—"

Malik jumped in the conversation without thinking, "He's that Headmaster of Hogwarts guy! See, Jounouchi!"

"Anyway, he said something about a Dumbledore, and a wizarding world and how we have to go to school there, and would we mind if we leave this palatial mansion immediately and go to stay at one of their kind's places?" Seto continued as if Malik hadn't spoken a word.

"Also," Ryou added softly, "When he was pointing at Yami, he said he'd seen you before in the hospital and what were you doing here? You know what this means, right?"

Yami nodded. "It means they know where my hikari is," he said. "So what are we waiting for? Come on, let's follow the guy."

"You're being too impulsive," Malik commented. Yami glared at Malik. "Well? Don't you want to be reunited with Yuugi?"

"Well, the sooner we get Yuugi, the sooner we go home," Seto said firmly. "Let's pack."

Malik and the others started packing. But Ryou waited for a moment after they left, and told Hagrid, who was staring curiously at Yami's retreating form, "He's his brother."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Malik asked.

"Because," Yami Bakura sighed, "someone'll leap at any chance, no matter how dodgy, to see his other again."

Anzu jumped. "Stop popping out like that!" she said, annoyed. "It scares people, you know!"

They were standing in front of Seto's mansion, staring at a turquoise car that looked a million years old. Sitting in the driver's seat was a red-haired man who looked about fifty. "Hello," he said pleasantly, smiling. "You're the Japanese exchange students?"

Jounouchi, Ryou (who was back), Anzu, Honda, Yami and Malik blinked. But since Kaibas never blink at things like this, Seto simply stood there expressionless, and Mokuba looked confused.

"What?" Jounouchi said in Japanese.

"Speak English, Jounouchi!" Ryou whispered, nudging him.

"How can I?" Jounouchi whispered back. "I don't know a WORD!"

"Should've studied, Jounouchi! You were learning the same things we were!" Ryou scolded, but then he switched languages. "We don't know anything about exchange students. We just came here to get our friend back."

"He means the tiny one with spiky multi-colored hair," Hagrid interrupted. "Tha's his brother."

Ryou and Seto groaned mentally. Trust Hagrid to spread their tiny lie around.

The red-haired man looked puzzled for a moment. "You know nothing about Hogwarts? You're going to study there, you know... well, Dumbledore will clue you in," he eventually decided. "Oh, and about your friend Yuugi," he said, pronouncing "Yuugi" with a British accent that sounded strange to them. "He's fine... in the hospital, recovering from his ordeal, but otherwise just fine."

Yami's head snapped up. "What ordeal?" he asked quickly. Ryou translated the question and the red-haired man faltered. "Oh... well, we found him, collapsed, one day in the streets with his grandfather and they were unconscious, so we sent them to hospital. You can visit him if you like. I'm Mr. Weasley, by the way." After translating, Ryou looked at Yami, shrugged as if to say '_We've already gone this far... how will a little further hurt_?', and entered the car, motioning for the others to enter.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"We're here," Mr. Weasley said, stopping the car. Our heroes got out... and stared again. Compared to Seto's palatial mansion, this place could hardly be more different. It was... to put it plainly, slummish. Rubbish was everywhere, garbage cans lay in pieces across various drives, and the few cars that were in this neighborhood were at least 10 years old, very battered and broken one way or another.

Needless, they thought this was not a very nice place to live.

"Oh no, we're not living here," Mr. Weasley said, amused. "Here, read this." He thrust them a piece of paper— no, not paper. It resembled papyrus, Yami thought. And Jounouchi and Malik noticed that the paper was made of the same material as the message that had brought them to England in the first place. On the piece of paper was a message. It said, very simply, "_The Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London_" in loopy writing.

The group – with the exception of Seto – blinked. "Ooooookay," Malik said, keeping his voice low. "Now what?" As if he could read his mind, Mr. Weasley said quietly, "Think of what you've just read." Ryou translated again, and soon, the boys were staring at the late Sirius Black's former house.

"Cool," Jounouchi put very aptly.

"Keep quiet in the hallway," Mr. Weasley whispered as he opened the door. As they walked through the dark, dingy hallway, Ryou noticed the antique gas lamps. He pointed them out to the others and Mokuba's fascination became incomparable.

"Just how old is this place?" he asked, eyes shining. Then a tall (but not taller than Seto), freckled red-haired boy stepped out from a door.

"Dad," the tall boy said quietly, ears flaming, his voice strangely calm. "Please tell me what a Slytherin is doing at our house. Snape just went out of his room. My room."

"We're not Slytherins, whatever they are..." Ryou began, but the boy cut him off. "Not you," he said irritably. "Come in, come in, Mum's expecting you." As they entered the room the boy had gone out of, Malik checked to see if the boy was listening, and whispered, "What a crab."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The boy and Mr. Weasley were still 'talking'. Then the boy came out. Seeing the boys, he smiled and went over to them.

"Sorry I was grumpy just now," he said. "It's just that Slytherins are gits, you know. And then one of them suddenly decides to live here! I mean, bloody hell! He could be a spy!" The boys nodded dazedly, unfamiliar with local slang. "I'm Ron, by the way," the boy continued, "and um... you are?" Ryou shook himself and replied, "Sorry if we don't understand, you know? It's just that local slang makes us lost sometimes. We don't know much English. Anyway, I'm Bakura, he's Kaiba, and he's Jounouchi..." Ryou continued introducing.

"Where are we?" Malik asked in Japanese.

"Where's Yuugi?" Jounouchi interrupted, also speaking in Japanese.

"Learn English, will you, Jounouchi?" Seto snapped at Jounouchi. "Where are we and where's Yuugi?" he asked Ron in his perfect, unaccented English. "Oh, Yuugi!" Ron said, brightening. "He's in the hospital. My friends are there with him. Just drop your stuff off in your rooms and come to the living room, and I'll bring you to him." They went up the stairs and promptly stared again. In front of them was a portrait of a woman. A life-sized portrait of a woman screaming her head off, to be exact. Ron stared sadly at the portrait for a while, then told the boys, "Oh, that's just Mrs. Black. She's a bit insane. You have to ignore her. We're in 12 Grimmauld Place. It's a bit dirty, but Mum's got it all worked out." Ryou translated as they went up the stairs.

"Nii-sama, this place is weird," Mokuba whispered.

By now, even Jounouchi had figured they were going to stay here for a very long time. So he immediately resolved to learn English, and learn it well. After putting down their bags in their respective rooms they went back down to the living room, where Ron took out a flower pot.

"Drat... I forgot you don't know how to travel by Floo," he said. "Would you rather I go first so you can see how it's done, or should I just tell you how and go last to make sure that you're fine?"

"I'll go first," Jounouchi said. "I have to see Yuugi." Ryou translated.

"Okay then," Ron said doubtfully. "What you do is that you take a handful of that Floo powder and throw it into the fireplace." He indicated the roaring fire. "Then you step into it – and it's perfectly harmless, trust me – and yell out where you want to go. In this case, St. Mungo's. Are you _sure _you don't want me to go first?" he asked Jounouchi.

"I'll be fine," Jounouchi assured him. Throwing the powder into the fire and watching it grow even stronger and turn emerald in color, he swallowed and stepped into the fire, ignoring the gasps of his friends. "St. Mungo's!" he roared, and was swept away.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

He was ported to the reception area of St. Mungo's, where he coughed for a while, choking. After a few moments, Anzu, Ryou, Yami, Seto, Mokuba, Malik, Honda and Ron joined him.

"We're looking for Yuugi Mutou," Ron told the receptionist.

She looked at them, then gestured towards the stairs. "Fifth Floor, Spell Damage," she told them.

"Thanks," Ron said and went upstairs. The others followed him.

Eventually, they entered a room and a voice squealed, "Yami! Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda! Bakura! Um... what's Kaiba doing here? Hey, Mokuba. Malik." Except in Japanese, of course.

"Hey, guys!" Yuugi's grandfather greeted them.

Yami, at that moment, felt blissfully happy. He had found his hikari and his grandfather, both in good shape. "Aibou!" he said, grinning. After introducing themselves to Harry, a boy with jet-black hair and a curious scar on his forehead, and Hermione, a girl with bushy brown hair, Ryou went near Yuugi. He whispered, "We don't want them to know about the Millenium Items... what if they're like what my yami was? So you'll have a wait a little bit longer for the Puzzle." Yuugi nodded, understanding.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at the scene unfolding before them and felt rather awkward. "Um..." Hermione said hesitantly, "We don't want to intrude on your privacy... we'll be waiting outside..." Then she grabbed Harry and Ron's hands and quickly exited the room. Once they were outside, Ron declared, "They're hiding something from us. Did you see Bakura whisper something to Yuugi?"

"Yeah, but..." Harry said uncertainly, "Mr. Weasley wouldn't have let someone evil enter this house..."

Ron snorted. "Speak for yourself," he said. "Who's in my room, then? Madam Pomfrey?"

"Well, maybe Mr. Weasley could be wrong about Zabini," Harry admitted. "But the exchange students look perfectly all right to me."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Once Harry, Hermione and Ron had gone, Ryou took the Millenium Puzzle out of his bag and gave it to Yuugi. Yuugi put it on, and then asked seriously, "How did you get here? Geography isn't my strong point, but I know that England is very far from Japan."

"Across the world, in fact," Ryou said. "We took Kaiba's newest unreleased KaibaCorp jet here."

"Which was left in my mansion with only Juno to take care of her because of your Mr. Weasley," Seto muttered. "We have to contact Juno immediately. He must be wondering where we are. Speaking of Juno, he's probably bought too many supplies—"

"Otogi!" Jounouchi gasped. "He doesn't know we're here! He's still going to meet us tomorrow at your mansion!"

"Yes," Seto continued. "I'll call him later. It was very inconvenient for us to travel here." Mokuba and Ryou glared at Seto. "It was inconvenient, maybe, but it was worth it," Yami said, smiling slightly. Then Malik coughed. "I'm assuming we're going to stay here long-term. So let's leave you two at it. I don't want to be uninformed about anything that's going on." The others nodded and began to leave the room. Yami flew inside his Puzzle and promptly took over Yuugi.

"Wait," Yami commanded. "Bakura, would you mind staying here for a moment?"

"Ah, yes, I nearly forgot," Malik snickered, "Well, we'll give you your privacy now." He smirked and left, as did the others. Yami turned red and clenched his fist, as did Yami Bakura. "Malik..." they snarled. Then Yami Bakura turned to Yami. "Well, Pharaoh, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Who said I wanted to talk to you?" Yami asked.

"Well, you didn't have much to say to Ryou, unless it was about the whole "friendship is crap" thing..."

"True," admitted Yami. "Tell your hikari I'm sorry for that." He looked around. "You didn't have to be so dramatic," he commented. "Back in the village."

"You mean the duel?" Yami Bakura asked, surprised. "What would you have done if I was the one who'd made your hikari cry? Sit down and let it pass?"

Yami ignored his answer, and proceeded to another subject. "You beat me," he stated. Yami Bakura stared at Yami. "Are you feeling all right? I think you need some medicine." Yami continued to stare at Yami Bakura and Yami Bakura finally answered, "Yeah, I beat you. Truthfully, I beat you with Osiris." He smirked. "Is the Pharaoh so indignant at his loss? Does the Pharaoh want to duel again?"

"Yeah, the Pharaoh wants to duel again," Yami said. "But not now. Anyway, what I wanted to say was... thanks. You saved me and reunited me with Yuugi."

Yami Bakura blinked. "I didn't really reunite you with Yuugi..." he muttered awkwardly. "Well, Pharaoh. This is a different side of you." Yami Bakura got up and extended a hand. "Hello, my current name's Yami Bakura. Douzo yoroshiku(2)." Yami replied, "Kochira koso, douzo yoroshiku," and the two spirits shook hands.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

It was nearly dinnertime. You could tell that by just sniffing the air, now filled with the rich fragrance of food. Between the time they had come and now, Ryou and the others had been shown around the house, introduced to every occupant, given a brief lecture on wizarding history (about Voldemort and such), finally told about Hogwarts (Honda and Anzu were left rather disappointed) and promised the dinner of a lifetime. After doing so many things, Ryou was very, very tired and begged his yami to take over for a moment ((Yami, just pretend you're me. You've done that before)). And so Yami Bakura did.

The aforementioned, who was with Malik and Ron (Harry and Hermione had taken quite an interest in Seto's laptop and the others wanted to watch), wrinkled his nose. Mrs. Weasley was cooking something... and it smelt bad. "What's that smell?" he asked Ron. "Hmm... let me check," Ron replied. "Mum! What's that you're cooking?" he yelled as he went over to the kitchen. "You speak English?" Malik hissed as Ron was in the kitchen. "Yeah," Yami Bakura replied. "I'm my hikari, remember?" Ron soon returned and replied, "Curry Fish Heads. Mum decided to make something exotic, as you were here."

"We're glad about that..." Malik began uncertainly, 'Oh Ra, the smell was getting VERY bad,' he thought. Apparently Mrs. Weasley, European Cooking Goddess she may have been, didn't know a thing about Asian dishes. "But she's gotten the wrong country. We're from Japan and Egypt, not India." And of course, Ryou (or Yami Bakura) translated.

"Oh," said Ron, disappointed. "Mum's never cooked Japanese food before... and the closest thing to Egyptian food she's cooked is Indian."

"Koshari, anyone?" asked Malik. Koshari, an Egyptian dish consisting of lentils and rice with fried onion on top, was his favorite food. But his comment was unheard. "Well, I'm certainly NOT eating that," Yami Bakura declared. "You have to," Ron replied, frowning. "She's made it the main course."

"Well, I just won't eat then," Yami Bakura replied, much to the confusion of poor Ron. But if Ron had any thoughts on this subject, they quickly disappeared, as Harry and Hermione had finally finished bugging our favorite CEO. Yuugi, Jounouchi and Mokuba entered the room grinning – apparently it had been quite a show. "Kaiba's sulking upstairs," said Jounouchi, stifling his laughter, "Anzu and Honda are trying to placate him."

And Ryou translated again.

"We have Indian Curry Fish for dinner," Malik announced sourly, "that, no offence, doesn't smell too good."

Yuugi blinked.

Jounouchi blinked.

Mokuba didn't blink. After all, his Kaiba genes had to show up sometime.

"Curry Fish is cooked with s-s-s-SHALLOTS (4)! EW!" was Yuugi's reaction.

"CURRY! YES!" Jounouchi whooped.

"I'll tell nii-sama," was Mokuba's.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Dinner is served," Mrs. Weasley said proudly. The two tables were overloading with dishes and in the middle of each table were 5 fish heads drenched in scarlet curry sauce.

"Uh, guys?" Jounouchi whispered. "I may be wrong and all, but isn't curry supposed to be orange-ish yellow... or at the very least not scarlet?"

Yuugi shrugged.

"I thought you weren't eating!" Ron told Ryou, who was feeling much better after his nap. Ryou yawned sleepily and said, "Sorry, I've been feeling so tired lately... need to get my energy up." He walked over to the table where Yuugi and the others were. Seto was now down from his room and was informing the others that NO, he had not been sulking and that they would meet Otogi in Trafalgar Square the day after tomorrow.

"We'll leave you kids alone, okay?" Mrs. Weasley, a plump woman, said. "We've got some business to discuss on the other table." Once she was out of earshot, Malik looked at the scarlet curry sauce. "So... what's this supposed to be?" Ryou translated for everyone who didn't speak Japanese.

"Curry fish," Ron said. "Didn't I tell you?" Ryou translated again, and Jounouchi told Ryou something in Japanese. "Jounouchi says this is as far from curry as you can get," Ryou said, shrugging.

"Hey," Ron narrowed his eyes, "Don't diss my mum's cooking, all right?"

"We're not erm... 'dissing' her cooking," Anzu jumped in to pacify them before a fight broke out. "It's just that... she's not as accomplished in cooking Eastern food than in Western food, y'know?" And Ryou continued translating. For the non-English speakers this time.

Meanwhile, Malik was poking the curry fish. "Ooh, Mr. Fish, you need to have a healthy diet!" he said. "Eat this piece of chicken!" He stuck a piece of chicken in the fish's mouth, but the chicken fell out into the curry. Some smoke rose into the air from the curry and a hissing sound was also heard.

Meanwhile, in the other table...

"I'll try some of Molly's curry... I'll bet it shines, just like her other dishes." A gulping sound. Then... "It burns! It burns! Water, please!" The person immediately began a frantic coughing fit.

Malik looked at Ryou. Yuugi looked at Jounouchi. Seto looked at Mokuba. Anzu looked at Honda. Then they looked at Harry, Hermione, Ron and his siblings.

Mass sweatdropping ensured.

Then Jounouchi grabbed the potatoes on his dishes ("Never really fancied potatoes myself...") and dropped them in the curry. More smoke and a loud hiss erupted from the dish. Everybody stared as Jounouchi started ladling every piece of potato he had into the curry. "Heh, this is fun..."

Honda whacked Jounouchi on the head. "Don't play with your food."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

After dinner, Mrs. Weasley immediately took some of her curry to the Slytherin's room. Ron was indignant, but Hermione, Jounouchi and the others felt a little sorry for the Slytherin.

"Tell me how Mum can let old Snape bring a bloody Slytherin in this house? He could be a freakin' spy!" Ron asked them angrily. Harry nodded too, but Hermione looked a little uncertain. "Oh no, Ron," she said thoughtfully. "Like Harry said, your dad isn't the type of person to let an evil person in this house... I think we should trust him."

Ron snorted, as if to say '_TRUST HIM! Sure I will._'

"From what you told us, I don't think he's evil," Ryou remarked. "And anyway, you think he's in any condition to spy right now?"

"Yup, me neither," said Jounouchi, accomplishing both a "yes" and a "no" in one sentence.

"And how would you know that Blaise Zabini, someone you've never even _seen_ until now, wasn't evil?" Ron sneered. Ryou was about to answer that he'd seen evil in the face before and that boy didn't look capable of it, but Malik said something quietly that shut them, even Ron, up.

"Because... I think he's just like me."

"And look at him, that peaceful look on his face," Jounouchi summed up. "No, I don't think he's evil even one bit."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

1 – Seto always calls Yami Yuugi. In the version of Yu-Gi-Oh I watch, anyway. I think everyone calls Yami Yuugi (except Yami Bakura and the Ishtars) until very late in the series, when they finally learn his name. But of course this is not the case in this fic. ;D

2 – When meeting each other for the first time, the conversation goes like this: "Hello, I'm --, douzo yoroshiku." And then the person replies (it's customary), "Kochira koso, douzo yoroshiku."

3 – Shallots Scallions. Scallions a type of bulb-less onion. Yuugi hates scallions.

"_Telly and Vaness are doing this be—"_

"_Before we've even started the chapter, thank you very much Seto," Vaness muttered._

"_I was going to say that, but you interrupted me," Seto said in his perfect, unaccented English._

"_Put salt in our wounds, will you, Kaiba?" Jounouchi, Honda and Malik snarled._

"_That was very heart-to-heart," Yami Bakura said sarcastically._

"_Really," Telly said. "Maybe I should rewrite it yet again."_

"_No, please no," Yami said, twitching._

"_Vaness fired the narrator," Malik said._

"_And good riddance too," Yami Bakura said, "making me out to be a heroic figure..."_

"_But you ARE a heroic figure!" Telly gushed. "I watched you sacrifice yourself for Ryou in Battle Ship! It was SWEET!"_

_Yami Bakura turned a little red. "If I'd known that Yami wasn't going to attack, I'd have stayed and gotten myself a victory. But it's nice to know the Pharaoh's weakness now," he smirked._

_Yami just grumbled grumpily._

_And Telly sang Rakuen. "RESPECT! BO-OYS! Tsuyo gari SHOW ME..."_

_Vaness predictably pulled out earmuffs and started distributing them._

Please r & r :D


	8. Okay I give up

Telly: Yay! Chapter 8!

Vaness: And it's the return of the really random mini-story!

Telly: And the exams are ALL OVERRRRRRRR! They have been for around four months actually.

Vaness: Yes we have had a tremendous hiatus. But eventually I got bored and decided to RETURN! Bow to me folks!

Telly: Anyway, it's mid-term break now. Hahahahaha.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"_What are we doing here?" Malik asked, obviously annoyed._

"_Beats me," Jounouchi shrugged. Ryou yawned and gradually woke up. Then confusion registered on his face and he asked blankly, "Where are we?" Then Seto stood up and looked around. "Oh," Jounouchi said, disappointed. "You're here too. Why must I always be with you?" he groaned, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. Seto opened his mouth, as if to ask a question, but Malik interrupted him._

"_Don't. Ask. The question," Malik commanded Seto. "We don't know where we are."_

"_Of all the places we could be..." Seto grumbled. "I have a company meeting to go to!"_

_Jounouchi smirked. "You brought your laptop, I see. Neopets?" he suggested._

_Seto's eye twitched._

_So our heroes were stuck in an indescribable, unnamable place._

_A lone eagle flew overhead._

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Japanese names to dub names: Malik – Marik, Jounouchi (Jou) – Joey, Seto – Kaiba, Ryou – Bakura (But everyone calls him Bakura anyway), Sugoroku – Grandpa Moto (Solomon? Simon? Who knows?), Otogi – Duke Devlin, Isis – Ichizu, Shizuka – Serenity, Honda – Tristan, Anzu – Teá.

Key:

(( )) - yami to hikari

( ) - hikari to yami

" " - speech

' ' - thoughts

_Italics_ - Newspaper articles, stupid little unrelated mini-stories etc.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Chapter 8 –

"Let's go shopping!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Morning, Grandpa!" Yuugi said brightly at breakfast the next morning. He had obviously slept very well, which was not the case with our heroes from Japan (with the exception of Seto, who was well-used to jet lag). Seto walked in, followed by a trooping Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, Malik, Ryou and Mokuba. Well, fine. Anzu was more alert than the rest.

"I don't know how you can get used to the time difference so quickly, Kaiba..." Malik said blearily. "I mean, it's what... 10 or 11 hours?"

Seto chanced a smirk. "Get used to it."

"You're going to have to introduce them to Quidditch some time soon," mused Fred aloud. "What's Quidditch?" Malik asked curiously (Ryou, ever diligent, had translated despite his fatigue).

"It's a game we play in the wizarding world," Harry explained. "Kinda like a mix of basketball and hockey. We'll show you after breakfast."

"I'm not going," Honda said abruptly. "What's the point of me going when I can't even play it? After all, isn't it only for _magical_ people?" he finished bitterly.

"Honda!" Anzu admonished.

"Anzu, I know you feel the same way too!" Honda said to her quickly in a low voice so that Ryou could not hear him and thus, translate. "We've been dumped out of everything important that's happened! Don't tell me you don't think that?"

"Honda!" Yuugi said in Japanese, shocked. "Like Anzu said, It's not only you! I'm out too!"

"Big deal!" Honda said, rounding on to Yuugi. "You've been included in everything else!" He suddenly stopped talking and closed his eyes, trying to steady himself. When he opened them the bitterness remained, but there was also a steely look in them.

"Yuugi," he said softly. "You're too nice. You won't ever understand what I feel like. Ever."

He left the room.

The room was filled with a rather awkward silence. Anzu looked distressed and worried, but composed herself.

Eventually, Harry cleared his throat loudly and tried to find something to say."

"Anyway... Ginny, you're a wicked Chaser, aren't you?"

"Hmmmm, yeah..." Ginny answered, not really listening. She had her eyes fixed on Malik, you see.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Right. Then there's the Quaffle. It's sorta like a basketball. You have to get it through one of the three hoops. And there's a person, called the Keeper. He's like the goalkeeper in football," Harry explained as they walked out to the nearest field.

"So Quidditch is like a mixture of our games?" Ryou asked, yawning.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Except that there's one last thing. The golden Snitch. The Seeker's supposed to catch it, and when he does, the game's over."

"Not very interesting," Malik said dismissively (Ryou translated). "Kind of easy to just catch the Snitch."

"Just wait till you see it," Harry replied, smirking. "Small and fast, it's an inexperienced Seeker's nightmare."

"Really," Malik said skeptically.

Meanwhile, Yuugi, Mokuba and Seto (Anzu had declined to go) were walking a fair distance behind Harry, Ryou and Malik. "Is it true you're the head of some company in Japan?" Ron asked Seto curiously. "Yeah, he's the CEO of KaibaCorp," Yuugi said. "I'm surprised Granger here hasn't even tried to flirt with me yet, considering the attention I get everywhere," Seto added, an expression of half-disgust, half-admiration on his face.

"Oh, please," Hermione said. "I'd rather concentrate on my studies, and besides, you're not my type."

Seto smiled. "You know, Granger, I think we might just get along."

Hermione half-grinned. "I'm not used to being called Granger by a friend," she commented.

"You'll get used to it eventually," Yuugi said, grinning. They reached the field, and Harry, dealing with the Weasleys' spare/old brooms like an expert, thrust one at Ryou, Yuugi, Mokuba, Jounouchi and Malik. "You sure you don't want to?" he asked Seto and Mokuba, who shook their heads. "I've got no time for things like this," Seto said, "and Mokuba has motion sickness." Ron whistled. "Boy," he said incredulously, "running a company must be tough."

"Okay," Harry said, "Place your brooms on the ground directly under our hand. Then, I know this sounds dumb, but say 'UP!' Don't quaver or anything, the brooms can sense it."

"Like Duel Monsters," Malik whispered. "UP!" they all commanded confidently.

The brooms jumped in Jounouchi and Malik's hands immediately. Ryou's broom hesitated a while, then flew daintily into Ryou's hand. Yuugi's broom stared at him, and if brooms could stick their tongues out, this broom would've. "That's a nice start," Harry said, smiling. "Oh, and your first try doesn't matter much, Yuugi. Ron's didn't do much during his first try, and he's now Gryffindor Keeper."

(((Nice start for the Game King,)) Yami Bakura snickered.)

Then Harry showed them how to mount their brooms, and Yuugi's broom finally listened to him. Pretty soon they were flying around the field, and Ron, now on his Comet Two-Ninety demonstrated how to Keep while Ginny tried to score a goal.

"You know," Harry told Malik and Jounouchi thoughtfully after their lesson, "you'd be perfect for the Chaser position."

Malik and Jounouchi looked at each other. "Maybe," they said, and shrugged.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Honda angrily went up the stairs and stumbled into his room, intending to sulk for the rest of his stay. Childish, he knew, but he was justified.

He heard a tiny, audible cough. Looking around, he realized that he wasn't in his room after all... he was in that boy's room. The one Ron didn't like.

Glaring at the boy, he growled in Japanese, "What the hell do you _want_?"

Without waiting for an answer, he stormed out.

Blaise Zabini was left there, slightly confused. It seemed that he had a lot to learn about Muggles...

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Right," Mrs. Weasley announced. "We're going shopping for your school supplies. Blaise, Bakura, Jounouchi, Kaiba and Malik, you've got money, I assume? Yuugi, Mokuba, dears, you'll have to stay here... Tell Yami and your friends, okay?" She bit her lip, remembering Honda's outburst that morning.

Blaise nodded as Ryou, Jounouchi and Malik stared at Seto pleadingly. Seto sighed. "Oh, all right. But you have to pay me back." Meanwhile, Ryou was appealing to Mr. Weasley to do something about Jounouchi and Malik's English problem.

"Jounouchi, Malik, come here please," Mr. Weasley ordered. Then he performed a very complicated spell than Ryou couldn't remember, and said, smiling, "There, they know English now. But since this is a new charm and has side effects we haven't fixed yet... I think they've forgotten how to speak Japanese."

"Well," Ryou sighed. "At least it's better than not understanding what's going on in here."

Malik experimentally tried out a few words in Arabic, then in the High Language. "At least I haven't forgotten those..." he told himself, relieved.

Ron was arguing with his mother. "Mum, does Zabini have to come with us?"

Mrs. Weasley glared at Ron. "Yes. Now keep quiet!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"So this is Diagon Alley?" Malik asked incredulously. "Yeah," Ron answered. "Come on, we have to get our 6th year school supplies."

"Bring Blaise along with you," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, overhearing them. "Meet us in the Leaky Cauldron when you're done, alright?"

"Yes, Mum," Ron replied, rolling his eyes.

"I can buy my own books, thank you very much!" the sable-haired boy said indignantly, face reddening. It was at this point some Slytherins saw him and tried to hex him. Thankfully Blaise moved quickly enough to avoid it and it hit Eylops' Owl Emporium instead.

"Blaise, dear, that's why you have to stay with the others!" Mrs. Weasley told him kindly. "I know you're a Slytherin and Slytherins don't go with Gryffindors... but who knows? Maybe Malik or Kaiba might get in Slytherin! And anyway, it's for your own good..."

"Yeah, don't worry, Zabini, we'll protect you," Malik said, "We have a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with these matters." He fingered his Millenium Rod, kept hidden in his pocket.

"So," Ryou said thoughtfully. "I think we should get our money first, don't you, Kaiba."

Malik and Jounouchi both somehow chose to clear their throats after this.

"You had better pay me back... Come on," Seto growled as they walked towards Gringotts.

It was... impressive, Seto admitted. It was snow white and towered over all the other shops, and it had polished bronze ballroom doors, where a goblin, Hermione had said, stood, wearing a scarlet and gold uniform. Malik noted that the white steps were made of stone as they walked in, and faced yet another door. It was an exact duplicate of the first door, except it was silver. There were words engraved on them, and the newcomers to the wizarding world read them, all thinking, 'Don't, Yami Bakura.'

"Don't steal from it," Ron warned. "No one's ever tried, and no one ever will, if they like living."

Ryou smiled.

One hundred Galleons each later, they were all ready to go shopping.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Okay, now we've gotten all our books and clothes and stuff... Where's the wand shop?" Jounouchi asked, consulting his supplies list.

"That way," Hermione said, pointing. "I'll bring them," Zabini said firmly. All this Gryffindor company was a bit traumatizing, and he needed to get away.

"When you've finished, go to the Magical Menagerie, okay? Crookshanks is looking a bit strange," Hermione replied. Crookshanks was her squashed-faced ginger cat with block-like legs. No one argued, and so off they went.

No one talked as Zabini led them to Ollivanders', until Jounouchi broke the silence.

"Err... why do they treat you like dirt? I mean, apart from the obvious. I thought you'd defected to the Light?"

Zabini sighed. "There are many people who can't see beyond their beliefs. If it's their belief that all Slytherins are evil, they'll never be able to accept that a Slytherin is good."

"Ron Weasley thinks that way, obviously," Malik smirked.

"Hm, Granger doesn't, though," Seto said.

"Kaiba, this is England! Her name is Hermione!" Jounouchi said.

"Whatever, mutt."

"I am NOT a MUTT!"

"Bonkotsu no Duelist (1)."

"What?" Jounouchi asked, a blank expression on his face.

Kaiba sighed. "Your not knowing Japanese is becoming increasingly inconvenient."

"You look all right to us," Ryou said.

They entered Ollivanders', and Blaise looked around and shivered. "I swore I'd never come here again," he said quietly, and Malik could see why. This room was unsettling, even by his standards, and that was saying something indeed, as the Ghouls had been a very scary organization. "Let's go," Malik said, turning around. "He's obviously not here."

"Hello, young Ishtar," a voice suddenly said from behind Malik. Malik jumped. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?" he demanded. The person, a short and mysterious old man ignored him and said, "So... whom should I serve first? Young Ishtar? Young Kaiba? Young Bakura, or maybe young Jounouchi?" The boys flinched silently when the strange man said their names. Then, catching sight of Blaise, the man smiled. "Ah, Mr. Zabini. Have you come here for a new wand? Or just to show your friends around?"

"I like my wand the way it is, Mr. Ollivander," Blaise said firmly. "But my... my friends need wands."

Ollivander peered at them. "If you say so, Mr. Zabini. It is best for a wizard to have several wands though, one for charmwork, one for transfiguration and such. Young Kaiba, you first. Hold out your wand hand, please."

Seto wondered why he was there. 'I have a COMPANY, for God's Sake!' But he sighed, and held out his right hand. "You mean this hand?"

"Yes, perfect, perfect, young Kaiba." Ollivander pulled out a long tape measure out of his pocket and started measuring Seto. The others (except Blaise) stared, and finally Malik plucked up his courage and asked, "Er, Mr. Ollivander? What does the length around your head have to do with swishing a wand?"

Ollivander passed him a withering glance and answered, "You'll never understand, young Ishtar. Now let me do my work." He shuffled off to a shelf and started collecting several boxes while the tape measure continued measuring the length between Seto's ears and head. "Every Ollivander wand has a bit of a powerful magical substance, young ones. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are completely alike, just like no two unicorns are completely alike. If you try using someone else's wand, you will, of course, produce a weaker result than if you used your own wand. The wand chooses the wizard, you know. Not like window-shopping for new dress robes.

"All right, young Kaiba. Let's see if you're a tricky customer or not," Ollivander said as he took out a wand from a box. "Pine, this is. Unicorn hair, twelve inches, quite bendy. Give it a wave." Seto waved the wand rather uncertainly, and nothing happened. "Well, that's to be expected," said Ollivander. "People rarely get it on their first try. Here you go, this one's fir, dragon heartstring, eleven inches, quite hard." Seto waved it, and blue and white sparks sputtered from the wand. "That's done for you, then," Ollivander said, smiling. "Next, Young Jounouchi, please."

He measured Jounouchi, and flit around the shelves once again. "Here you go, young Jounouchi. This one is beechwood. Eight inches, phoenix feather, rather swishy." Jounouchi waved it and yellow sparks shot out from his wand almost immediately. "Well," Ollivander said, impressed. "You're one straightforward customer, I'd say. Join Young Kaiba there. Young Bakura, your turn."

Jounouchi walked towards Seto and they displayed mutual dislike once again. "You know, you really are quite impressive. It only took one try for you to meet your wand," Seto smirked. "Quite a small amount of time, just like the amount of brain cells you have..."

"Kaiba..." Jounouchi growled.

"And there you go! Yew, eleven-and-a-half inches and unicorn hair! Join young Kaiba and Jounouchi, young Bakura," Ollivander said. "Now, young Ishtar, you next..." There was an intensity in Ollivander's eyes that Malik did not like...

The infamous tape measure started working again and Ollivander said, "Here you go, young Ishtar. Fir, fourteen inches, pure gold dust, an ingredient we don't normally use, and quite a bit too hard for normal people's tastes. Then again, I get the distinct feeling it suits you..." Malik waved the wand and a golden necklace quite similar to the Millenium Tauk appeared. Malik smirked. "I'm liking this thing already..." he said, holding his wand the way he held his Millenium Rod. "That's very nice, young ones," Ollivander said, smiling. "Now if you'll excuse me, 30 Galleons for your purchases, please. Gold dust is quite hard to come by these days, Young Ishtar, so your wand is a little more expensive, at 10 Galleons. Then again, Young Jounouchi's wand is quite cheap to produce, so it is only 5 Galleons. Young Bakura's wand and young Kaiba's wand cost seven Galleons and eight Sickles." Seto paid for all of them and they left.

"Boy," said Blaise. "I'd like to get away as quickly as possible."

"Have we finished yet?" Seto asked. "You all owe me about ninety Galleons each already."

Ryou shrugged. "Hermione seemed to have a surprise for us," he said. "Let's go to the Magical Menagerie."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Here at the Magical Menagerie we have rats, rabbits, ravens, toads, snails and cats. Oh, and we have an import from Egypt. He doesn't take to here well," the witch said sympathetically. "You wouldn't want him, though. Nobody likes snakes now..."

"You have a snake?" Malik asked curiously. "Yes," the witch sighed. "A poisonous cobra, actually. Nobody wants him... he would have been happier back in Egypt, but that's miles away." Malik grinned. "Considering that very animal nearly killed me when I was 4," Malik said, smiling, "I'd be glad to keep it as a pet."

The others looked at him as if he was crazy, but Malik was oblivious. "Yes," he said happily, coiling it around his neck. "I'll call him Osiris, after the God of the Underworld. How much?" he asked the witch. "Fifteen Galleons," she said, and Seto, sighing, started counting his money.

Meanwhile, Ryou was looking at the cat section. "I like cats," he told Hermione, who was also looking. "They're so... elegant."

"Yes, and they're smart, too," Hermione answered. She pointed at a tiny one. "That one there seems you like you," she said. "Really?" asked Ryou, surprised. "I'll take it, then." He picked up the jet-black kitten carefully and brought it to the counter. "I'll take this one," he said. "Err... is it a he or a she?"

"It's a she," answered the witch, "Ten Galleons please." Seto paid again, and Ryou smiled. "I'll call her Raven," he said, and they left, Ryou holding Raven protectively (her black fur was a quite stunning contrast with his white hair) and Osiris proudly curled around Malik's neck for everyone to see.

"Are we done yet?" Seto asked. "You all now owe me three hundred Galleons altogether!"

Malik checked his list. "Yes, we're done. Don't worry, I'll pay you back sometime."

"Let's go back to the Leaky Cauldron, then," Harry said. "Mrs. Weasley said to meet us there."

They walked for a moment, Ryou cuddling Raven and Osiris displayed like a trophy when suddenly an all-too-familiar drawl stopped them. "Well, if it isn't Potty and the Weasel... nice snake, by the way." Harry, Ron and Hermione were mildly surprised; it wasn't like Malfoy to readily compliment someone. Nevertheless, he was _Malfoy_, and had to be treated as such. "Malfoy," Harry said, gritting his teeth. "Leave us alone."

"Oh, no. You see, I like your friend's snake... Mind if I get introduced to him?" Malfoy moved closer to the snake cautiously, a smirk playing on his face. Malik, not knowing that Malfoy was in Slytherin, and Harry's enemy no less, said, smiling, "Sure. Just don't annoy him. He's poisonous. His name's Osiris." Malfoy stroked the snake thoughtfully and the snake didn't react. It even seemed to enjoy his touch. Then Malfoy abruptly straightened up, sneered, "See you around, Dream Team," and left. He had not spoken or even glanced at Blaise during his introduction to Osiris.

"Well, that was... slightly strange," Hermione said. Ron snorted. "Typical snake behavior. It's the animal that represents Slytherin so if a Slytherin strokes it, and never mind if he's the biggest git on Earth, the snake'll like it."

"Come on," Blaise muttered softly, feeling uncomfortable. "Let's go."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Okay, Patty. I've finished 'socializing' with them, like Mother said. Now can we go home?" a very annoyed Draco Malfoy asked.

The small house-elf beamed. "Mistress Narcissa wishes you to get along, not like what you did just now, Master Draco."

"Whatever," Malfoy muttered. "Let's just go home."

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Where's Yami, Yuugi dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked kindly. They had returned to Grimmauld Place, only to find that Yami had mysteriously disappeared.

"Oh, Yami... er... he's back in Japan, Mrs. Weasley!" Yuugi replied brightly.

"But why?" asked Mrs. Weasley, confused. "He's your brother, isn't he?"

"Er, yeah! But, um... he got news from back in Japan that was really important, and had to rush back!" Yuugi said a little too quickly.

"Really," Mrs. Weasley said, disappointed. "He didn't even say goodbye... well, I have to make dinner..." She exited the room absentmindedly.

((Aibou, you cannot lie,)) Yami noted amusedly from inside the Puzzle.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Yuugi, his grandfather, Anzu, Honda and Mokuba soon had to return to Japan. They (except for Yuugi's grandfather) had already missed enough school, and unlike Otogi, they had no legitimate excuse (well, except for Yuugi). And even Otogi had returned to Japan a week before, after hearing that all was well.

There was no sentimental goodbye. Jounouchi had tried to patch things up with Honda, but the latter had refused to listen, stonily looking at the floor. Jounouchi's inability to speak Japanese any more also did not help things.

Yuugi and Anzu had promised to write before they left on transport specially arranged by Dumbledore.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The day finally came. They went through the barrier to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters and hung around the platform exchanging goodbyes. Hermione was explaining to Seto all about Hogwarts: A History and the latter was listening carefully and frowning at occasional intervals. Malik had some business with the twins, and Ryou and Jounouchi were talking with Harry. Blaise was skulking around and seemed to have momentarily vanished.

The train conductor then blew a horn to signal that the train would leave in a minute, and, waving and wiping away a tear, Mrs. Weasley bade goodbye to Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Blaise (who had reappeared again), Seto, Malik, Jounouchi and Ryou. The twins did the best they could to copy their mum, catcalling, "Good bye, Ron! Have a nice time in Hogwarts! We'll send you some Nosebleed Nougats!" The twins had decided to continue their business, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. It was doing quite well, so the family home had gotten a bit of an upgrade. Malik, Harry and the others got on the train and waved.

The train started moving...

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

1 – Bonkotsu no Duelist – The ordinary, unskilled, unknown duelist. I quote Seto Kaiba (in the Game Boy game Yu-Gi-Oh! World Wide Edition): "You challenge me? I admire your enthusiasm, but I don't know you. And any duelist I don't know, is simply not worthy of my attention! And if you're an unknown duelist, you must be a loser! And an army of losers won't stand a chance against me!" And that was after I'd beaten him SEVEN times, and once in the KC CUP, which he ORGANIZED.

All right, I made up the bit about Mokuba's motion sickness! Sue me!

I like sable hair:)

"_Have you noticed," Malik poked the long-suffering Jounouchi, "That all our surnames end with the syllable "aa" except yours?"_

Please R&R:)


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